An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King!
by SaruwatariAsuka
Summary: ABANDONED. 6/18/10
1. Chapter 1

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 1 -Once Upon A Time-**

"Seraphina!" my mother screeched up to me, waking me up from the light nap I had been taking. It was really all I did now-a-days, I had just graduated from highschool, and there was really not much to do besides sleep all day.

I groaned when I heard her, I hated her using my full name like that. Yeah, it's Seraphina, but most people usually just called me Sera (pronounced 'Sarah', by the way), so when she used my full name, it usually meant something _bad_ was going to happen.

"Seraphina Winter Jacobson!" she called louder, making me want to bury my head into my pillow. Not only did she have to use my first full name, but she had to go and pull out my full-_full_ name too. If there was one thing I hated more than the name Seraphina, it was the name Winter. And I had it.

But instead of ignoring her, like I wanted to, I got out of bed, not really feeling like having her screech up to me anymore. I looked at the clock next to my bed. 3:30 pm, and I was still in my pajamas. I shook out my long auburn hair. It was a mess, as always. I hated my hair almost as much as I hated my name. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to be curly or straight, so I was stuck with stupid waves.

I probably could have had it all completley chopped off, but I had a feeling I'd miss it if I did...so it stayed right on my head.

I clomped down the stairs as heavily as I could, hoping my mother would hear my footsteps and realize how she had just woken me up out of my slumber and feel badly. _Fat chance, _I thought, _but worth a try._ I walked around my house, trying to find her, until I finally found her, sitting with my father, in the living room.

"What's wrong?" I asked bluntly. My mother was looking nervous, and my father was looking concerned, which was strange because he usually never looked anything besides annoyed. My parents were pretty attractive people. My mom had bright fire engine red hair, pale freckled skin and green eyes. My father had graying hair that had once been brown, pale skin and brown eyes. I was a sort of combination of both of him, inheriting pretty much only their bad traits. _Yay me.___

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'? There isn't anything wrong! Why would you think there's something wrong?" My mother asked me quickly. I scoffed.

"First of all: You only use my full name when something is wrong. Second of all: Both you _and_ Dad are here, which means it must be important. Third of all: You're wringing your hands so hard they're probably going to fall off and fourth of all: You're speaking really quickly and telling me 'There's nothing wrong, why would you think there's something wrong'...so obviously something is up." I explained. My mother and father glanced at each other before turning back to me.

"Sera, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?" My father asked. _Oh god, here we go again,_ I thought, annoyed. They were going to lecture me again on how I needed to go to college, or get a job or anything. Jeez. I could figure it out myself...I _was_ 18.

"I dunno..." I mumbled.

"Do you have any plans? Goals?" My mother asked, just as quickly as before.

"Do you want to school?" asked my father.

"Maybe you want to work for me?" My mother asked again.

"You like to paint, to you want to be an artist?" My father asked. I stared at them, annoyed at all the questions they were asking me.

"What is this, like, the Spanish Inquisition or something?" I demanded, eyeing them carefully. They had to have some alterior motive for this conversation...I could tell.

"Do you have any ideas for what you want to do with your future, Sera?" asked my mother, finally putting all their questions to me into one.

"Um...no." I mumbled, feeling more than a little stupid. Their faces brightened.

"Good." My father said. I stared at him disbelievingly.

"What? Don't you want to harp on me about how I need to go to college or something?" I asked. My mother shook her head.

"No, because we actually sort of already have something you need to do." My father added, and I could tell there was going to be some kind of explination. Well, there better be. "You see, when I was very young, I met these people...well they sort of saved my life.I got into a very bad car accident and they picked me up from the side of the road and took me to their house and nursed me back to health. I was always eternally grateful to them." My father said. I looked at him skeptically.

"Why didn't they call 911? Jesus dad, who _were_ these people?" I asked.

"Well, you see, thats where your future comes in. I didn't know _what_ these people were at all, until one day, I discovered their secret. They said to buy my silence, they would give me anything I wanted. They gave me money, because I was poor at the time, and they introduced me to your mother. And they even promised our child's safety and security...aka you." My father said.

This was sounding more and more like a fairytale. Something on the lines of Rapunzel. Or Rumplestilskin. Or something crazy like that.

"And how, were they planning on doing that?" I asked. I figured there was no point in asking what their _family secret_ was anyway, I doubted I'd get an answer. My father and my mother looked at each other once more before turning back to me.

"We decided that you and their son, who was 2 years old at the time, would get married." My mother said.

I stared at them in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked finally, after a few moments. My mother shook her head.

"Now, I know this is a bit of a shock...but we just wanted to let you know. You'll be leaving to live with them tomorrow. I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but we knew if we did, you'd just run away."

I shook my head.

"I cannot believe you are doing this to me. This is the 21st century. Not the 19th!" I practically yelled in frustration. I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to think about it.

I ran back up to my room and locked the door, refusing to come out.

If they didn't one day would give me enough time to run away, _they were wrong._


	2. Chapter 2

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 2 -Accepting the Engagement-

I packed everything I figured I'd need. I wasn't just going to sit by and let my parents run my life! They had done that the past 18 years of my life, ordering me around, telling me who I could hang out with, where I could go, what classes in school I could take...I was surprised they even let me pick out my own clothes. I was 18 now, a legal adult! They didn't own me anymore. They couldn't just decide who I was going to marry!

After I packed, I opened the door that went out to my small deck outside of my room. It was there so I could sit outside whenever I wanted to and paint. Right now, it was a very handy escape route.

The sun was going down, so that meant I'd have to go quickly to the bus stop, or else I'd miss all the busses for that night. I'd had some money from previous summer jobs, and although I had no idea where I was going, _anywhere_ was better than getting married to a complete stranger.

I slung my suitcase over my shoulder and swung my leg around my deck railing. I was on the second floor, but I was near the garden shed, so if I could just get from my deck to the garden shed roof, I'd be a free woman.

I looked to the roof of the garden shed and jumped, landing on it with a thud. My feet stung as I landed, but I tried to ignore the pain. I jumped carefully from the roof to the ground, and this time, my ankle twisted and I fell to the ground with a loud "OOF!"

I sighed as I heard footsteps come around the corned. _Dang. _I sort of hadn't thought my master plan all the way through. The noise of me jumping onto the roof of the garden shed would obviously be loud enough for my parents to suspect something. And now I was sitting helpless on the ground with a throbbing ankle. _Great.___

"Sera! What are you doing?" asked my mother as she rushed towards me. My father came behind her and helped me up. I grunted at the pain as I tried to lean some of my weight onto that leg.

"I _was_ trying to run away. But it didn't work." I said, annoyed. My mother sighed.

"We know this is hard for you, but believe us, we're doing this so you can have a safe and secure future. We just want you to be happy in your life." she said. I sighed.

"I know. I just...hate that you decided my future already! It's like I don't even have a choice! And I mean, I'm an adult now, so you can't make my decisions." I replied as my father helped me into the house. My mother had already taken my suitcase.

"Well...thats not entirely true, actually. As long as you live here, we can boss you around all we want." My father joked. I groaned in frustration.

"Thats not the point!" I answered. My mother patted my back as I sat down on the couch.

"We know this is tough to accept. But we made a deal with them. And you have to do this. But I promise, even though we've chosen who you have to marry, we've decided we're not going to decide anything else in your life." she explained. I sighed. There was really no way of getting out of this.

"Yeah well. I'm still mad at your this. So you're not going to get off the hook easily. Just to let you know." I responded, the pain in my ankle receeding.

"Look on the bright side. Julian Courtier, your fiance, lives in London, England." My father said.

I had always, always, _always_ wanted to go to England. I loved the culture, the accents, the architecture, the art, _everything_. Even if I had to be married to this..._Julian Courtier_...I'd be living in England.

"Fine. I'll do it. But if he hates me and calls off the wedding, thats not my fault." I told them. I caught the wary look my mother gave me.

"You wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt your engagment...would you?" she asked and I could tell she didn't really want to hear the truth. So instead, I just smiled sweetly.

"Of course not." I replied. My father sighed, knowing that I was lying. Well, they wouldn't be able to stop me.

"Please Seraphina...think of us before you do anything too irrational." he said. I sighed in annoyance.

"Fine. I'll get packed, again. For real this time." I told them, getting up. My ankle still hurt a little, but I could walk. I took my suitcase from my mother and went upstairs. This time when I packed, I packed more thoroughly, bringing everything I thought I might need for my new life.

I sighed and sat down on my bed, halfway through packing. I looked around my room. This wasn't going to be my new room from now on...

I wondered what Julian Courtier was like. I wondered who he was.

Of course, the more appropriate thing I should have been wondering was _what_ he was.


	3. Chapter 3

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 3 -We're Not In Kansas Anymore-

I flew all day the next day. I had a feeling these Courtier people must be pretty rich, because they paid for me to fly first class on British Airways. So that was the second bonus to marrying Julian Courtier. They lived in England, and they were rich. Now, as long as Julian was good-looking and nice, I wouldn't actually mind getting married to him.

I was able to sleep most of the flight, especially because the seats sort of reclined all the way back, so they were like beds. I was even given a face mask and blankets and pillows and stuff. I could seriously get used to traveling like this!

We arrived in London at 3:13am, and I was really groggy as I was led off the plane. As I got out of the terminal, I suddenly realized that I had no clue where I was going now. My parents hadn't said if anyone was picking me up, or if I was supposed to take a cab to their house...of course I didn't even know the address!

I started panicking until I saw an older man with a black suit on holding a sign that said "Jacobson". I went up to him.

"Um, I'm Seraphina Jacobson...is this for me?" I asked tentativley. The man nodded.

"Yes, I'm your driver, Mr. Van." He said, with the gruffest, english-accented voice I had ever heard. I almost wanted to giggle at his name **(Mr. **_**Van**_, but figured that might not be the best idea. Instead, I simply nodded as he took my things and led me through the airport.

The airport was flooded with all sorts of people, even at 3am. English accents rang through the spaces, along with all sorts of different European accents I didn't recognize. I felt like a complete stranger in this huge place.

Mr. Van led me outside to where a long black limo was waiting. I gaped at it.

"Is this what we're riding in?" I asked increduously. Mr. Van laughed a little, something that surprised me almost as much as the limo. He seemed like such a gruff person, I had been under the impression that he never smiled (like those royal palace guards for the Queen).

"Would you rather ride on the back of _that_?" he asked, motioning towards a vespa that was parked a few yards, exuse me, _metres_, away.

"Uh no. This is fine." I said, watching him load in the suitcases into the back. I almost wanted to go help him, but I figured he'd go all gruff on me again if I tried. Instead, I reached for the door to get in, but Mr. Van quickly came in front of me and opened it for me. Jeez, he was good.

"Er. Thanks." I said akwardly, getting into the limo. Inside was all completley leathered-out, complete with a minibar with expensive looking champagne flutes. I opened the mini-fridge down below and saw that it was stocked with expensive looking champagne. I almost was surprised, until I realized that the drinking age in England was 18. Of course, I wasn't really keen on having any. Instead, I laid down on the seats and promptly resumed what I had been doing before I had touched down in England: sleeping.

I wasn't sure how long I slept, but I was awoken by Mr. Van opening the door to the limo. I sat upright and looked around me, feeling a little disoriented.

"Are you all right, Ms. Jacobson?" he asked. I nodded and climbed out.

"Yes and call me Seraaaaa...whoa." I said as I realized where we were and what I was looking at.

In front of me was a huge, and I meant _huge_ castle, surrounded by a dense black forest. A rolling front yard with a fountain was infront. The castle was completley stone, and looked as if it had been there for hundereds of years, but was still completley beautiful. It was complete with stone gargoyles and turrets. I stared at in disbelievingly.

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." I said softly. Mr. Van led me up to the doors, which he knocked on. They swung open, as if by some magical force. It gave me chills.

A few stiff looking footmen rushed out of the castle and towards the car, getting my things out of the back. I stepped inside the castle to the marble foyer, looking all around. The inside was lit by hundereds of candles. It gave the foyer a sort of otherworldly feel.

A woman rushed out to greet me.

"Oh, you must be Seraphina!" she said, wrapping me in a hug. "I'm Lilith Courtier." she said. _Lilith? Isn't that like, the wife of the Devil's name? Creepy_, I thought. She pulled away from me and I was staring into a beautiful face. I was shocked at _how_ beautiful she was. She had to be Julian's mother...so she had to be at least 50! Weird!

I heard more footsteps, a sort of more shuffling. I looked over Lilith's shoulder to see a towering figure entering the room.

He had black as night hair, a pale complexion and dark eyes. All in all, he was the most _gorgeous_ guy I had ever seen, _ever_. Lilith looked at me brightly.

"Seraphina, this is Julian. Your fiance."


	4. Chapter 4

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 4 -I'm the King of the Vampires-

"Seraphina, this is Julian. Your fiance." Lilith said. I couldn't help but just _stare_ at him. He was really tall, with a lean frame. He wore a sort of old-fashioned black suit, as if he had just stepped out of the 1800's. He had a modern hairstlyle though, with bangs that swept over his forehead and into one of his dark eyes. He was paler than death...but now that I realized it, so was Lilith. This was like, the Addams family or _something_.

"Hello." I said quietly. Julian gave me a curt nod then stared at his mother.

"Can I go now?" he asked with a smooth voice with a strange, soft, english accent that Lilith had. Lilith sighed and then shook her head yes. He ran up the stairs quickly. She looked back to me.

"You must be very tired, dear. Let me show you to your room." she said, and led me upstairs, where I had earlier seen the footmen go with my things. We were silent for a moments, and I felt pretty akward.

"I'm so sorry about Julian. He wasn't too keen on this whole arranged marriage thing. Practically tore my head off when I told him. But that was a month ago, and since then, he hasn't really gotten used to it, but he'll go through with it if I tell him he will." she said. I laughed nervously.

"Um yeah, me too, I guess. Only my parents told me _technically_ two days ago, because they knew I'd try to run away if they told me any earlier." I said nervoulsy. Lilith laughed and stopped in front of the second doorway in the long hallway that had we had walked into.

"This is your room. My room is downstairs, and Julian's room is right next to yours, should you need anything." she told me. I gulped and nodded, opening my door. "Well, have a nice sleep." she said.

"Oh yeah. Um, you too. And thanks for letting me stay here, and all." I said. Lilith nodded and walked away. I inahled and exhaled deeply and opened the door to my room.

The room was bigger than my entire second floor at my own house. It even had a fireplace, which was crackling cozily. The walls were all gilded framed gold and really detailed. The floor was dark wood and there was an ornate rug covering it. My bed was an iron framed bed, and it looked so comfortable right now. My suitcases were sitting on the floor. I'd look around more tomorrow. Right now, I needed _sleep_. I undressed quickly, not even bothering to find my pajamas, and just deciding to sleep in my underwear.

I practically dove into my bed and the moment my head hit the pillow, I was out.

When I woke up, sunlight was streaming in my room and onto my pillow. I blinked my eyes open, feeling more rested than I had remembered ever feeling. I sat up and looked around my new room. I noticed there was a door on one of the walls and so I crept out of my bed and looked inside. There was a spa-sized bathroom in it, with a huge jacuzzi style bathtub, an old fashioned looking shower, a gold toilet and a marble counter where my sink was. I could get used to this.

I went back into my room, figuring I should probably see what time it was, and if anyone needed me for anything before taking a shower. I opened up the suitcase with all my clothes in it, getting out some clean jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I dressed quickly and went downstairs.

I looked around for the dining room, where I figured everyone would be. When I found it, I saw Lilith and Julian sitting at the huge dining table, eating their breakfast.  
Lilith grinned when she saw me. "Good morning!" she said chipperly.

"Hi." I said timidly, sitting down near her, and not Julian. He was _really_ intimidating, especially now that I could see him better.

I saw Lilith glare at Julian, who promptly flashed me a cheesy smile. "Good morning, Seraphina." he said mockingly. I blushed.

"Um, you guys, you can just call me Sera." I said quietly. Lilith smiled.

"Well, after breakfast, I'm going to let Julian take you into the library, where you can talk. Because you're going to have to know everything about us to live here and marry Julian and all." Lilith explained. Julian looked at her so darkly, I'm sure that if looks could kill, she'd be really, really, dead.

"Fine." he said, annoyed. I squirmed in my seat, not feeling very hungry.

After breakfast, well, after Lilith had finally stuffed a piece of toast down my throat, Julian led me into the library. He was silent and moody for a few minutes as I sat at one of the desks in the library. I groaned a little, feeling annoyed.

"Listen. Just to let you know, I don't want this marriage thing anymore than you do. The only reason I agreed to come here is because I like England and because I was forced. So. You don't have to act like I'm the devil, because I'm _not_ the bad guy here." I told him. Julian looked at me with an arched eyebrow, but said nothing. "Why don't you just get it over with and tell me what Lilith told you to tell me and be done with it." I added.

"Well fine then. I _was_ going to ease into it, but I'll just tell you." he said. I looked at him. He said nothing.

"What?! Just tell me already!" I said, exasperated. Julian merely looked amused.

"I'm a vampire. Lilith is a vampire. Actually, I'm the King of the Vampires. So there you go." he told me, and with that, he smiled a wide smile, to show me two large fangs right where his normal canine teeth were supposed to be.

I stared at him for a few moments, my head spinning, my stomach churning.

"I don't feel so we..." I said, and promptly fainted onto the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 5 -I'd Rather Starve-

When I finally came to, I found myself on my bed in my new room. I still felt pretty weak, and took my time in sitting. I finally noticed that Julian and Lilith were sitting at the other end of my bed, and suddenly I remembered why I had fainted in the first place.

"Please don't eat me...please..." I whimpered to them. There were only two options. The first one was that they were lying about being vampires and they were crazy and were going to try and suck my blood. The second option was that they really _were_ vampires and they were going to suck my blood. Either way, my future looked very bleak.

Except Lilith was laughing. And Julian was looking at me with an amuse expression on his face.

"Why would we _eat_ you?" Lilith asked, between laughs. I stared at her.

"Ummmm let's see...because you think you're vampires?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well, we _are_ vampires. But we aren't going to eat you." Julian told me, as if that would make me feel any better.

"Then what _am_ I here for?" I asked, deciding to humor them.

"To marry Julian, of course." Lilith said. I groaned. So now I wasn't just in an arranged marriage...I was in an arranged marriage to a vampire. This day was just getting better and better by the second.

"So. I'm engaged to a vampire?" I asked bluntly, hoping that they'd just make this clear, once and for all.

"No." Lilith said, confusing me once more.

"You're engaged to the King of the Vampires." Julian said. _Oh yeah._ Julian had mentioned that little tidbit before I had passed out.

"How can you be? Your mother is still alive. Hah! I found a hole in your plan!" I told them. Lilith laughed.

"I'm not his mother, I'm just his aunt." she said. I fumed at the beautiful woman in front of me for a little, and then managed to calm myself.

"Fine. So what does being engaged to the King of Vampires imply, anyway?" I asked, not annoyed at the Courtiers, but actually annoyed at my parents, who had decided not to tell me that not only was I going to be married to someone I didn't really know, but that he was the King of Vampires, as well. They could have at least..._slipped_ it in somewhere!

"That when we get married, you'll be the Queen of the Vampires." Julian told me serenley.

"Um, you've failed to notice one little, teensy, tiny detail here." I said. They stared at me. "_I'm _not a vampire." I told them. Julian and Lilith looked at each other.

"Actually...you are." Lilith told me. I gaped at her for a few seconds.

"Uh, no I'm not. I think I'd _know_ if I were a vampire." I replied, after finally comprehending what she was trying to tell me.

"Yes you are. Your mother is a full vampire, and your father is a human. You're a half vampire, and half vampires don't start to change until they are 18. So yes, you're a vampire." Julian explained, as if it were the most logical thing in the universe.

"This is ridiculous! First you tell me that _you're_ a vampire, next you tell me that my mom's a vampire, and now _I'm_ a vampire! Whose next?! Mr. _Van_ is a vampire?!" I almost screeched.

"Of course he is. We only have vampires employed here." Lilith told me.

"I fail to accept that I'm a vampire! And I'm leaving here!" I now shreiked, getting out of bed. I was still a little dizzy, and stumbled a little. I felt Julian's strong arms come around me, and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"It doesn't really matter whether you accept that you're a vampire or not. The fact of the matter is that you_ are,_ and even if you weren't, you couldn't leave anyway because you are my fiancee." Julian told me, true annoyance in his voice. I unlatched myself from his arms.

"Well fine then! Just...leave me alone!" I shouted. Lilith got up and slipped out of the door, respecting my wishes. Julian, however, did not. "Did you not just _hear_ me? I said go away! I don't really feel like talking to you right now, if you can imagine!" I shouted again. Julian looked at me darkly.

"I'm coming back up here to remind you for dinner, which you _will_ be attending. You are now living in _my_ house, under _my_ rules. So you _will_ obey me." he almost growled.

"Like hell I am!" I shouted, opening the door. I wasn't usually one to swear, but this deserved one. I couldn't believe he was really going to boss me around!

Julian strode out the door, but then turned back to me. "If you don't eat with me, I'll see to it that you don't eat it all. You _will_ learn to obey me." he said, all too calmly. I stared at him, literally feeling the fire of hatred for him burning through me.

"I'd. Rather. Starve." I said and slammed the door right in his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've ****Got**** To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 6 -Apologies-**

I sat, pissed off, in my room for awhile. The whole "I'd Rather Starve" thing had sounded pretty cool when I had said it to Julian, but now,10 hours later, I was feeling really hungry. I tried to occupy myself with unpacking and getting all my stuff set up in my room, and after I was finished I decided to take a long bath, but still I could hear my stomach growling and growling.I heard a soft knock at 10:30pm. I was laying in bed, trying to get some sleep, but not really being able to because I was so hungry."Who is it?" I asked in an annoyed tone."Lilith" Lilith called from the other side of the door. I sighed, got up and opened it. Lilith stood before me with a plate of steaming food. My mouth literally watered. "I thought you might be hungry." She said. I took the food and went back into my room."Well, you definitely thought right." I replied, in between huge bites of delicious roast chicken."I sort of snuck it out after Julian had gone to work so, he won't be too happy if he finds out I've given it to you.""Well too bad! I'm hungry, you're giving me food, whats the big deal?" I asked. Lilith looked uneasy."He wasn't kidding about the whole, 'you don't eat with him you don't eat' thing. And I mean, it's not like he _wants_ you to starve, it's more that he wants you to follow his rules." she explained."Oh yeah, right. Like he seriously believes I'm going to just _do_ that." I responded."I don't mean to be a stickler here, but if you know what's best for you, you will. Julian lived his entire life under oppression from his father. He's kind of terrified of being told what to do. And when you shouted at us this morning to get out of your room, he sort of...snapped. I'm not saying it's right that he did, all I'm saying is that there are things you don't like, and there are things he doesn't like, and one of them is being told what to do." Lilith said."Well neither do I, so he'll just have to suck it up. I am his fiancee, and when we get married, I'm going to be _The Queen of the Vampires_ or whatever, so he needs to grow up and deal with it. I'm going to be every last bit as powerful as him." I retorted, annoyed. Whose side was she on, anyway?"Uhhh not exactly. Julian is a full vampire. You're only a half one." Lilith pointed out. I sighed."I don't want to talk about Julian anymore. Why don't you explain to me what it's like being a vampire and all?" I asked. Lilith seemed to brighten at this topic."What do you want to know?" she asked."Okay well first thing's first. Why are you guys up during the day? I mean, if the sun touches you...I mean us, won't we like, die?" I inquired. Lilith laughed."No, that's all made up. The thing is, with vampires, we hardly need any sleep. Only a few hours during the night, and we're all right. And the sun doesn't hurt us. It was just myth humans made up so that we could seem more vincible." she explained."So I'm guessing you don't sleep in coffins, either?" I asked."Nope. And wooden stakes don't hurt us. Same with garlic. You know-" Lilith started but was cut off by Julian slamming open the door and coming in. I shreiked and tried to hide the food. Lilith even jumped up in surprise."I'm sorry." Julian said, through clenched teeth.I blinked at him. _What?_"What?" Lilith asked, obviously just as shocked by his confession as I was."I'm sorry I overreacted about the food thing. There. Are you happy?" he asked, his gaze meeting mine. I instantly felt a blush come to my cheeks-I had no idea how to react. "I uh. I'm sorry that I yelled at you." I replied, unsure if he was going to attack me or something while I wasn't on my guard. But he didn't. All Julian did was nod his head once and left the room quickly.I stared at Lilith."Well Sera. You just got the King of Vampires to apologize. How does it feel?"She asked, in a sort of happy bewilderment. I took a deep breath in, feeling butterflies in my stomach from his apology."Good." I answered with a small smile.


	7. Chapter 7

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?!**** You've ****Got**** To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 7 –Made for Each other -**

The next morning I woke up roughly at 5am. I had a feeling it was because of what Lilith said, because vampires didn't need much sleep that I wasn't sleeping as often as I used to. In fact, ever since I had arrived here, I had felt kind of strange, like I was changing inside myself.I was seriously starting to believe I _actually_ was a vampire!...Yeah, right!I got out of bed and walked around my room and opened the shades of the window in my room. The sunlight poured in and I smiled in it. If I was really a vampire, I was glad that the whole sun thing was just a myth. I loved the sun, even though I usually burned easily.I left my room, still in my pajamas and went downstairs to the dining hall. My stomach was growling. Even though I had eaten like a pig last night, I was still hungry. I was really looking forward to muffins.I stopped the moment I saw unfarmiliar suitcases in the foyer. And then Lilith came out, fixing an earing."Oh! Sera!" she excalimed, surprised that I was up this early. Well, so was I."What's going on? Are we taking a trip?" I asked. Lilith laughed."No, of course not. I'm going back home." she said."B-b-but I thought _this_ was your home?!" I demanded. She couldn't just _leave _me here! Not all by myself with Julian!"No, of course not. Like I said, I'm just Julian's aunt. My home is in London. I'm on the Vampire Court, and I have to coordinate the annual All Hallows Eve Ball. I have things to do!" she explained."Oh no no no. You can't just come here, make me feel not as akward and then just run off!" I told her, feeling more than a little panicky. She laughed, again."It's okay Sera. I was only here to make sure you got here all right, and got settled! And besides, you and Julian seemed to be getting along splendidly! And I will, of course, be back!" she said chipperly."Lilith! You can't leave me alone with him!!" I begged, exasperated."I didn't know I was so repulsive." came Julian's deep voice behind me and I instantly flushed. I turned around."Yeah well um. I didn't mean it like. Ah well. I just...being alone with a guy...that's just...weird...yeah..." I trailed off, suddenly feeling very shy. Julian smirked, amused."Oh, by the way,I set a date for your wedding." Lilith said to us. Julian and I glared at her. At least there was one thing we agreed on...we _didn't_ want this wedding to happen. When we didn't answer, she continued. "It's going to be 3 months from now, onSeptember 22nd, the first day of Fall. Isn't that romantic?"she sighed dreamily."No." Julian and I answered at the same time."Well too bad. It's happening anyway." She said, with a sharp eye on Julian. She then instantly smiled back to me."You won't worry about being all alone with him, anyway. People are always coming in and out of the castle, I'm sure you'll meet lots of new and interesting people. Like Julian's advisor, Mortimer. Oh and, I'm sure he'll invite his _dear_ cousin Hunter to stay!" Lilith said happily, a gleam in her eye. Julian practically groweled beside me."No fiancée of _mine_ is going to meet Hunter." He said in a low voice. I was a little taken aback at his response. Apparently he didn't like this Hunter person. But, did he really care that much about my safety?I felt butterflies at wondering if he cared about me...even just a little bit."Well, thats nice. Sera, if you ever need anything..." Lilith started and put her hand in her jacket pocket and pulled out a slick smart phone. "This is your new mobile. It has mine and Julian's numbers on it, along with the cook's, the maid's and Mr. Van's. It also has all the emergency numbers you'll need. Give me a ring if you every need anything." she said. I took the phone from her and scrolled through the new list of contacts.Lilith gave Julian and I a hug goodbye. She smiled at us as she picked up a couple suitcases. A few footmen rushed up to take up her others."I'm sure you'll get along marvelously. You really do look _made_ for each other." She said eerily. This was not something I was expecting her to say. Yeah, sure she wanted us to get married, but I'm pretty sure she thought Julian and I would never be all romantic and cuddly. I didn't even imagine we'd share the same room once we were married!So I just looked at Julian, who was looking at Lilith as if she had 3 heads. Lilith in return smiled a shining smile, waved once more and walked out the door, leaving Julian and I standing in the foyer, awkwardly."Well. I'm going to go do some work." He said, strangely gruffly."Oh uh yeah. I'm going to go do...some...stuff." I said, trying to sound as professional as he did. We walked off in separate directions, both of us equally as bewildered by Lilith's comment.I quickly got a muffin from the dining hall and picked up my new 'mobile'. I dialed my home phone number.I now was going to have a nice long chat with my parents.


	8. Chapter 8

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?!**** You've ****Got**** To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 8 -You Bit Daddy?!-**

"Hello?" Came my mother's voice on the other end of the line, after she picked up on the 5th ring."So. Were you going to tell me that I'm engaged to a 'vampire' before we married, or _after_?" I asked icily. I could hear her nervous laughter on the other side of the phone line."Sweetie! How nice it is to hear you! How's England?" she asked."That is a pathetic attempt to change the subject." I said lowly as I walked up to my room. I wanted to have this conversation privately, something I didn't really feel in the huge foyer."Yeah I know. Sera, I'm sorry." she sighed."How could you just _not_ tell me that my future husband and his aunt thinks that they're vampires!?" I yelled in a semi-whisper."Well, they don't _think_ they're vampires. They are. And when I say they, I mean we. I'm guessing they already told you that I'm a full vampire and that you're a half one." She said."Ya think?" I trilled as I got up to my room and shut the door behind me. I heard her sigh on the other end."First of all, it's all true. Vampires exist. I'm one, you're one, Julian is one, Lilith is one, blah blah blah, yaddy yaddy yadda. And if it's one thing I would never do to you, is lie to you about something like this. I know it's difficult to believe-""Ya think?!" I trilled again, this time a little louder."-But I'm asking you to believe this, because if you don't, the entire vampiryc world could be in _grave_ danger. Everything rests on you and Julian." "What?! Now there's a _prohpecy_?!" I asked, exasperated."Well sort of. It's not a 'prophecy' per se...I mean, it's kind of a prophecy...yes. Are you happy now?" She asked."Oh yeah, because I'm so happy that I grew up 18 years of my life thinking I was one thing and finding out a second later that I'm another thing. Yeah, that makes me _very_ happy, Mom. And besides which, why didn't Dad tell me this? That I have to get married to this guy because of some prophecy?" I asked."Sera. Listen to yourself. What would have done if he had told you there was a prophecy about you?" My mom asked. I sighed, she was right. "Besides, he doesn't exactly...know." She added quietly."Wha-?" I asked. She sighed again."You see, by vampire law, he's not actually allowed to know any of the prophecies that are made about vampires. He wasn't even supposed to find out that I was a vampire...but I accidentally bit him." She explained."YOU BIT DADDY?!" I screeched into the phone."It's not like it was bad! A vampires bite doesn't hurt the person who is bitten! It actually feels...good. But then our souls accidentally bonded together because I fed off of him for too long. And then we had you, and then the prophecy was made. And even though he was my soul-mate, we couldn't tell him about the prophecy." "Was there _any_ truth to the story you told me to get me to come here?" I asked, kind of weirded out at the thought of my parents having their souls bonded together because my mom _fed_ off of him...it was too creepy. It was like imaging your parents...like..._doing it._"They really did save his life! And they really did introduce us. And he thinks the rest of the story is true. That they offered him security in exchange for keeping quiet about our secret." she told me. I sighed."All right. Fine. Let's say, hypothetically, I believe you. What's this prophecy about, anyway?" I asked."I...sorta can't tell you." She replied."You're kidding me." I said bluntly."Nope. And I've got to go. We're having the Smithwick's over for dinner, and I've got to clean and cook. Vampire or no vampire, I'm still a suburban wife." She told me. I was quiet for a sec."All right mom. I'll let you go." I told her."Hang in there Sera. You know I love you." she told me."I love you too." I replied and I heard her click off the phone. I slid my own phone from my ear and pressed the 'End Call' button, feeling even more perplexed than before about what was happening all around me.


	9. Chapter 9

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 9 -Was That A Smile? Strange!-

**Authors Note:**  
**Hey guys!! Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, messaged or cboxed.  
I wanted to let you know as well that I'm going to be making the chapters of the stories a little longer. Just cause they've been pretty short. **

**So as promised, here is chapter 9 **

After awhile of sitting in my room, mulling over what my mom had said, what she had told me, and actually considering that I was a vampire, I figured what I needed to do was talk to Julian.

I wasn't looking forward to that. The last time we had talked alone, he had told me he was a vampire and I had fainted. Other than that, we hadn't actually talked alone. Besides, the other time, Lilith was in the house. Now it was pretty much just me and Julian, until someone new showed up in the castle. The fact of the matter that I was kind of scared of Julian.

He was _really_ intimidating. He had shown me how he could be when he got annoyed, but I didn't know what he would do if I actually made him full on _mad_. And I really, really didn't want to know.

I dressed in a long skirt and a black tanktop with a sweatshirt ontop of it. On my feet, I slipped on my slippers and went out of my room. I made it all the way into the dining hall until I finally realized that I had no clue where Julian went all day! I figured he must have...an office or something, being the King and all, but as if I'd be able to find it in this huge palace.

I stood in the dining hall, thinking about where Julian's office might be when a servant came in to dust the table. I was startled by her at first, but then realized she could be helpful.

"Oh hi! Um, do you know where Julian's office is?" I asked.

"Go down the main hallway, it's the last door, Miss Jacobson." she told me.

I followed her directions and found myself knocking on Julian's door.

"Enter." Came his voice from inside. I opened the door tentativley, not wanting to disturb him. He was busy with a letter in front of him. "Hello Sera." He said calmly, something I didn't feel.

"Uh hi. I just uh. Well you see, I was talking to my mom and, uh. Er. Did you know that there was a prophecy made about us when we were born?" I asked. Julian looked at me, bewildered.

"I did not know that." He said.

"Oh darn. I was just talking to my mom and she said she couldn't tell me what it was about, so I thought maybe you'd know." I sighed. Julian set his pen down.

"Odd. I guess I always figured that we were going to get married because of who your mother was." He told me.

"Wait what. Who's my mother? Do you know something I don't?" I asked. Julian stood up and went over to the fireplace, poking the fire. Even in the summer it was cold in this place. I was glad for the fire.

"Well, your mother _did _used to be The Queen..." He said.

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me we're related somehow?" I asked. Julian looked at me as if I were crazy.

"Of course not. Your mother was queen until she bonded her soul to the human. Then she had to give up her right as queen, and gave it to my Great-Grandfather." he told me.

"_Great-Grandfather_?!" I asked. "My mom isn't _that_ old!" I sputtered.

"Of course she is. Vampires are immortal. We age slowly and then stop aging when we hit our thirties. But when your mother and father bonded souls, she had to give up immortality. It's what happens to all vampires who bond with humans. Thats why vampires are very careful when biting humans. They try not to bite the ones that smell the best. The better they taste, the harder it is to stop. But your mother did it. And then she gave it to my great-grandfather. And then eventually it just got passed down through my generations when all my forefathers were killed." Julian explained.

Well, it _did_ explain some things. But not all.

"Does that mean I'm immortal?" I asked. I wasn't sure, since I was only a half-vamp.

"Yep. Unless you bond with a human. The only thing that changes with half-vampires are the fact that you are human until your 18th birthday. And then you change and age slower and then become immortal and all the perks that go along with it." Julian said.

"So if your grandfather's were immortal, how could they die?" I asked.

"Easy. I said they were killed. Vampires can be killed. It takes a lot of work, but they can." he told me.

"How?" I asked, almost not wanting to know.

"The Lycanthropes of course." Julian answered, as if it were obvious.

"You mean like _werewolves_?" I asked. Julian shrugged, and nodded.

"Of course! Of course there are werewolves! There are vampires, so there obviously has to be werewolves!" I said to the ceiling. I looked back to Julian who was smirking at me. I was silent for a few moments, wondering how I could have just _not_ known that my mom was Queen of the Vampires. Jeez!

"But Lilith said that I wasn't as powerful as you because I'm just a half-vampire, but if I'm immortal...well, I don't get it." I pondered.

"Half-vampires usually just aren't as physically strong as full-vampires. That's really all. But I just think she told you that because she didn't want to tell you that you're not all that intimidating...well compared to me." Julian pointed out.

"Yeah well. I am a nice, sweet, unobtrusive girl while you're all 'I'm king of the vampires, I have to sulk all the time and be stoic et cetera et cetera'" I told him, doing a pretty good impression of him. Julian broke out into a half-smile, something that gave me butterflies. But I pretended to be shocked.

"Whoa! Was that a _smile_?! Strange!" I said, in mock-bewilderment. Oddly enough, Julian looked a little embarassed by my comment and even blushed a little. I bit my cheeks to stop myself from swooning.

He might seem all tough and mighty to everyone besides me, but I could see that there was something else in his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 10 -Are We Soul-Mates?-**

That night, I figured it was time to talk to Julian about the werewolves (or lycanthropes as he called them). I didn't really _want_ to ask him about them, seeing as the whole thing seriously freaked me out. First vampires existed, now werewolves. But seeing as he had said that his main concern of being the King was keeping the werewolves at bay, I thought I had a right to know.

Besides that, I knew Julian and I had to talk about what we were going to do about the whole getting married thing. As in, maybe we could find an out-clause or something, or maybe would could figure out our prophecy and fufill it before getting married, or something. Or if we _had_ to get married, we had to talk about the terms of our marriage.

We sat at dinner that night (yes, I _had_ decided to join him, currently we were on friendly terms) when I decided to start up the conversation that I was really dreading, but really needing at the same time.

"So, I've got a couple things I need to talk to you about." I said to him as we ate our third course.

"Yes?" He asked, looking up at me with his intense eyes. My breath caught and for a second, I had no idea what I was talking about.

"Oh uh yeah. I just kind of wanted to know more about the were-I mean lycanthropes." I told him.

"Sure, that seems fair enough. What do you want to know?" Julian asked. I shrugged.

"Everything you think I need to know." I answered. Julian nodded slowly, obviously thinking.

"Alright. First thing you need to know is that there are two species of lycanthropes." he told me. "The first is the type you commonly see in pop-culture as just your basic 'werewolves'. They are called the Illuminatas, or The Illuminated Ones. They are the humans who are bitten. They can only take shape on The Full Moon, and while they are smarter, they are not as strong, as the second race, The Umbrias. The Umbrias are The Shadowed Ones, and they are the very, very dangerous race. The Umbrias are born wolf and can change whenever they feel like it. Although they are not as smart as the Illuminatas and they do not have the same human capacity to feel as the Illuminatas, they are very strong and _very_ powerful." Julian explained.

"So, why do the vampires hate the lycanthropes?" I asked.

"Easy. For as long as there have been vampires and lycans, there has been conflict. It is a matter of power. One group wants to be more powerful than the other." Julian said.

"So who is more powerful?" I asked. Julian flashed me a malicious smirk.

"The vampires of course. As if those mangy _dogs_ could ever be more powerful than the vampires. Of course, at times, it is difficult to keep them in line. They truly believe that if they continue to just strike at random, they will be able to kill us all off. But they are very stupid because there are many more vampires than Umbrias. The Umbrias must find their soul-mate before they can have offspring, while vampires don't need to. And the Illuminatas are only good at one thing, and that is planning where the Umbrias will attack next." Julian told me.

"Wait, I'm confused. My mom found her soul-mate? But she's a vampire." I replied.

"Vampires technically don't _have_ soul-mates. At least, I have never seen a vampire who has a soul-mate before, of course when I say that, I mean tied together by birth. Every single vampire has a different smell that is the most delicious to them. There are a few humans with that smell, but it is _very_ taboo in the vampire world to drink from those who smell the best, because what happened to your mother would happen to every vampire and then there would only be half-vampires in the world. Then, once they drink enough blood, their souls become bonded. But I don't know of any vampire who has a soul-mate from birth, and I have never ever heard of any vampires who have had a soul-mate with another vampire." Julian said. I thought about this.

"I think I get it. So basically, the lycans will never be as powerful as the vampires because they're just lacking in numbers, right?" I asked. At this, Julian hesitated.

"I'd love to tell you yes, just so you can feel safer, but as the future queen, I cannot lie about a thing like this. The Umbrias are trying to come up with ways to cheat the system. Right now, if they try to mate with someone other than they're soul-mate, nothing happens, but they are coming close in doing something..._and_ they are also trying to create a new drug that can be injected into the Illuminatas. Because the Illuminatas are human, they don't need a soul-mate, but their children are human with no lycan genes. But they're trying to make it so their human is completley wolf, with no _human_ genes."

"Jeez. Sounds like you've got a lot to deal with." I replied, sighing. Julian's mouth twitched up in an amused smirk.

"What, you mean _besides_ power-hungry vampires who don't see me fit as King and would _love_ to take over? Or all the ladies of the Vampire Court who don't see you fit to marry me because you're a half-vampire?" he asked.

"Yeah...about that." I started. Julian eyed me carefully. "I think it's no secret that we both don't want this wedding. So, I'm just trying to see if there is any way we can like...just not get married." I asked.

"I don't know. There would have to be a _pretty_ good reason for us not to get married. And the only good reason I can think of is if you suddenly joined the lycans but that wouldn't do you much good either because they'd probably just use you for information and then use your body for experimenting on what causes a vampire most pain." Julian informed me. I shuddered.

"I'd rather not do that." I said.

"I'd rather you didn't as well." Julian answered, his face softening for just a moment. My heart stirred, but then felt silly. He only didn't want me to do that because he didn't want me to give information away. Yeah. That was it. I looked down at my dinner, that was all gone. A servant came to take our plates away and I thanked him kindly.

"But, if you like, we could try to find out what the prophecy is. I was thinking earlier, maybe if it's something we have to do, we could do it before the wedding date, and then we wouldn't have any obligations to each other." Julian responded.

"I was thinking that too!" I answered, feeling a little upbeat.

"Well, they do say that great minds think alike." Julian told me, and I smiled. He stood up and I followed him into his office where he sat down at his desk and I sat down at the chair in front of it.

"Unfortunatley, the Keepers of the Prophecies at the Vampire Court won't tell the subject of the prophecy what it is until the prophecy comes true, we can possibly brainstorm some ideas."

"Julian, you don't think that maybe our prophecy is the fact that we're soul-mates, do you?" I asked. I had been toying with the idea ever since he had told me that there were no vampire soul-mates. Julian looked thoughtful and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hmmm. I don't know. I've heard that a lycan finds its soul-mate by looking into its eyes. Let's see if something happens." Julian said and looked directly into my eyes.

Something happened, alright. I felt jittery and nervous, but I was pretty sure that this _wasn't_ the whole 'soul-mate you're my one true love' business that the lycans felt. I was really dissapointed at this revelation that Julian and I weren't soul-mates. I suddenly laughed nervously. Because everytime I had thought about Julian and I being soul-mates...I had gotten a little excited! And then I was dissapointed that we weren't!

"Like we could be soul-mates anyway. How dumb is that, you know?" I asked. Julian looked at me with an almost pained expression on his face.

"Yeah, right. As if we could ever be soul-mates." he answered, his voice strangely tight.


	11. Chapter 11

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 11 -Vampires DON'T Love-

So, this part is going to be in **Julian's Point Of View**. Someone suggested I do that and then it just made sense because I'm going to be able to explain some things that I wouldn't be able to in Sera's point of view. I'll go into Julian's point of view whenever I need to do this. It won't be often, but it'll be nice to just keep tabs on him sometimes.

**Julian's Point Of View**:

I really wished there was a lycan in my office at that particular moment. For the second that Sera left my office, I flew into a silent rage, my anger consuming me.

What was _wrong_ with me?! Something what happening to me. And truthfully, not only was I angry, but I was scared a bit as well. I knew there was only one person I could call about this. I snatched up my mobile and with trembling fingers, found the person I was looking for. I almost broke my phone in the process.

"Julian?" Mortimer's deep voice answered in a concerned tone. I knew he wasn't expecting my call, he was on a very dangerous mission to try and see what the lycan's were doing. But this was _urgent.___

"Sorry Mort. I know I said I wouldn't call you, but this needs discussing." I said quickly.

"Of course, if you need to talk to me, I can talk. Besides, I'm safe in my hotel room at the moment." He responded.

My lips trembled as I spoke the words. "I...Something is wrong with me." I said.

"What's wrong?" He asked quickly, obviously worried.

"Well, physically I am all right, but emotionally, I'm...a wreck." I told him, feeling almost childish for complaining about this. I was overreacting. Nothing was wrong!

"What happened? Did someone poision you? Are you ill? Did a wound get infected?" Moritmer asked, still concerned. I ran a hand through my hair nervously.

"No. Nothing like that. It's my fiancee. Seraphina Jacobson. Daughter of the former Miss Laurel Farelly." I answered. I heard Mortimer pause on the other end.

"As in, Her Royal Highness, _Queen_ Laurel Farelly?" He asked after a few moments.

"The very same." I sighed into the phone.

"You're engaged to her daughter?" Asked Mortimer.

"Yes. I found out a month ago, 2 days after you left. Yes, it's an arranged marriage and no, I didn't have _any_ say in it." I responded.

"Okay. What's your problem with her?" Mortimer asked. At this point, another surge of rage went through me and I got up and walked briskly around my office to calm myself down.

"I. Don't. Know. Ever since I saw her everything inside me has been moving, rearranging, I don't know! I feel different! Something is very, very wrong with me! Everytime I see her I can't take my eyes off of her and I want to..._do_ things that I've never done before. For example: she was upset, and I wanted comfort her! And then I got cross with her, but 10 hours later, I apologized! _Me_! Apologizing!" I seethed as I tried to walk my anger out. Mortimer was silent on the other end.

"Julian...have you possibly considered the fact that you are in love with her?" Mortimer asked. I growled at his question. "Well, it is an option, Jules." Mortimer added.

"But _dammit_, Mort! You know as well as I do! Vampires _don't_ love!" I responded, gripping onto my desk, practically splintering it.

"Have you talked to her about it?" Asked Mortimer. I sighed, trying to calm myself down.

"Somewhat. There was a prophecy made about us when she was born, and so she wondered if it was that we were soul-mates, even though I had told her vampires don't have soul-mates, especially with other vampires." I told him.

"And what did you do?" Mortimer asked.

"Well, I suggested we try to do the thing that the lycans do. You know, how they simply look into the eyes of the other and they have that strange, bonding thing, where they can hear their partners thoughts and that whole business." I said.

"And...?" he asked.

"I don't know. It was as if...I don't know what I felt. I can't hear her thoughts or anything, but I did feel _something_. It...scares me. What if she _is_ my soul-mate? What if we're some kind of...anomaly? You know what that means, don't you?" I asked, feeling very anxious.

"Yes. If you die, she dies. And vise versa." Mortimer said softly on the other end. I sat down, head in my free hand, suddenly feeling extremely tired and old.

"I could never do that to her. You know how bad my families track record is. They've all died generally young. What if that happens to me?" I said.

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to. If you are soul-mates, you are soul-mates. But truthfully, Julian? I doubt it. You probably feel something because she is your fiancee. I know vampires don't love, but they do feel a strong attatchment to their partners. Besides, you two do have royal blood in you, so maybe that has something to do with it. _I've_ never heard of a vampire having another vampire as a soul-mate, _you've_ never heard of it, et cetera. So I really wouldn't worry about it." Mortimer said on the other end. I sighed again.

"Thank you, Mort. I knew I could count on your to calm me down. You're right. It's simply because she's going to be my partner for life. Besides, she didn't feel anything when she looked into my eyes. She even said so. So I'm just going to not worry about it." I responded.

"Now. Get some sleep. And don't work too hard. I'll be home soon." Mortimer said on the other line.

"You as well." I answered and hung up. I sat in my office chair, feeling considerably better. It was true. I didn't love Seraphina, how could I? I had only known her all of 3 nights. And I didn't know her very well. True, she _seemed_ nice enough, but I didn't actually _know_ her.

Suddenly, I head a tap on the window-door right near my desk. My honed eyes pierced into the darkness, but I saw nothing, only moonlight. I opened the door out the deck adjacent to my office. I saw nothing, except a small white envelope at my feet.

I picked it up. On the front it said Jules. I hesitated in opening it, but eventually I did.

Your fiancee is very beautiful.  
Her head would go nicely on our wall along side your mother's and your father's.  
And every single other member of your family we've slaughtered.  
Watch out.  
We're coming for her.

I read it over twice before looking out into the darkness, letting my body go completley cold.


	12. Chapter 12

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 12 -Is Normal Too Much To Ask For?-

Please enjoy this chapter. We're now going back to **Sera's point of view**.

When I woke up the next morning, everything seemed normal. I was feeling a little dizzy, but maybe that was because I wasn't getting as much sleep as I used to. I got up, looking around the room. Something felt..._different_. But nothing looked different. I laughed softly to myself and went into my bathroom.

I didn't look much different. A little paler than normal, yeah, but I hadn't been outside since I had gotten to the palace, so that was normal as well. I inspected my face carefully, not really seeing anything wrong with me.

I shrugged to my reflection. I was being stupid. Nothing was different about me, everything was the same as it always was. I picked up my toothbrush, loaded it up with toothpaste and opened my mouth accordingly.

That's when I saw _them.___

Two large, gleaming, pointing _fangs_ where my canine teeth had been last night. I dropped my toothbrush and screamed Julian's name as loud as I could.

I insantly heard movement below and then Julian's quick footsteps on the stairs. He burst into my room with the most worried expression I'd ever seen on a man.

"What's wrong?!" He asked, tense.

"I HAVE FAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGS!!" I wailed, sailing right into his arms. He caught me accordingly and held me close, although I _did_ feel his shoulders relax. It was almost as if he had been expecting someone to come kidnap me, or something.

"It's okay, Sera. I have them too." He replied.

"Yeah but...you're a _vampire_." I whispered, feeling utterly lost. I had told myself a thousand times that I was a half-vampire, but most of me had refused to believe it...until now.

"I know it's just...it's just...I don't wanna drink people's blood!!" I said into Julian's chest. I felt him heave a sigh. He picked me up, bridal style and lay me down on my bed, where he sat down and put an arm over my chest.

"It's okay, really. You won't start feeling the need for blood for at least another week. Then, you'll notice that no matter how much water you drink, you won't be able to quench your thirst. Thats when we'll start mixing blood with your water, little by little. Eventually, it will feel natural to you." He told me.

This _almost_ made me feel better. But I could still feel the tears in my eyes as I finally realized that I was truly, a monster.

"This is awful..." I said, tears still streaming down my face. Julian's eyes were filled with concern and trouble as he leaned down towards me. His fingers brushed away my tears gently.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this. Truly, I am. If there is one thing worse than being a monster all your life, it's being a human for much of it, and then changing into a monster. But believe me, soon you will be a vampire for longer than you were a human, and it won't be so awful." He reassured me in a soothing tone.

"Are you sure?" I asked, not really needing him to answer. His reassurance was so resolute and his gestures so kind to me. It put butterflies into my stomach and made me want to lean my head up the few inches and fuse my lips with his own. Which was _completley_ ridiculous. He was just being nice because if I was upset, the servants might start to talk about how he was making me mad. And then it'd get out that the King of the Vampires was treating his fiancee unkindly. Yeah. That was it.

"Positive." He nodded, putting his arms around me and pulling me into a tight embrace. I held him back. This was the most intimate thing that had ever happened to me, and I had had a few boyfriends back where I grew up. Nothing that happened between them and me even came close to how I felt right here with Julian.

"Are you okay now?" Julian asked, in the softest, sweetest voice I had ever heard. I nodded into his shoulder and his arms left my torso, the warmth from his body receeding immediatley. I was dissapointed by this, and instantly wanted to latch myself onto him. He started to go out the door.

"Julian?" I asked. He turned back towards me.

"Are _you_ okay? When I called for you, you came in here as if someone were going to steal me away or something." I asked. His face clouded over darkly for a moment before going back to normal.

"Yes well. I wouldn't have if _you_ hadn't been up here, screaming bloody murder just because you got your fangs. Really Sera, you should be more careful. I may actually think something _bad_ has happened to you." He said rudely. My mouth fell open indignatley. Julian smirked and left my room, closing my door behind it.

I took my pillow and threw it at the door as he shut it. Jeez, he could be so nice for one second, then so rude another! What was _wrong_ with him! Of course, then again, what was wrong with me? For thinking that I wanted to _kiss_ him, _latch_ onto him, it was downright silly! I wasn't_ that_ kind of girl, I wasn't boy-crazy.

My phone rang beside my bed. I picked it up, looking at an unknown number. I answered it, puzzled.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, is this Seraphina Jacobson?" it asked. _It_ was a soprano, feminine voice. I could already tell that the speaker was beautiful. She also sounded probably to be my age, or so.

"Sera." I winced. "Who is this?" I asked.

"Oh yes. My name is Lady Angelica Radcliffe. Lilith Courtier gave me your number. My mother is in the Vampire Court with her." The voice, also known as Angelica Radcliffe told me.

"Uh oh yeah. Hi. What's up?" I answered, a little puzzled as to why she needed to talk to me. I didn't even _know_ who this girl was.

"I just wanted to let you know that, before the whole 'arranged marriage' deal came about and Julian was betrothed to you, all the ladies, and many of the lords, were talking about how _I_ was to be the next Queen, and therefore Julian's wife." She said. Her tone of voice was taking on a very farmiliar, sort of snotty tone that all the 'elite' girls back at my highschool used when they were talking someone down. But I decided to play dumb. I didn't need any enemies. Especially vampire ones.

"Ohmygosh, really? I'm soooo sorry. I didn't know about this until 2 days before I met Julian, so I really wasn't involved." I replied. I heard her 'tch' on the other end.

"Don't play dumb with me. I don't really care about _your_ side of the story. All I wanted you to know was that you're _not_ welcome in the Vampire Court, and that Julian is going to be mine, whether you're engaged to him or not." She responded, and I could feel my temper rise.

"Listen. I don't really care about _your_ story either. And I don't care if I'm not welcome in the 'Vampire Court' either. And about Julian? You can take him. He's an egocentric, self-centered _pig_, and if that is what you want for your future husband, you can _have_ him. Now good-bye." I said promptly and hung up.

That little brat! How dare she call me, acting all friendly and stuff and then just go all Miss Haughty on me! Well, she could _have_ Julian anyway. That guy was so stupid! And annoying! And nice one second, then rude the next! _Ugh_! All the people here were jerks.

I lay back onto my bed and sighed. I wanted to be normal! Was that _so_ much to ask for?

My mind already knew the answer to that one. Yes. Apparantley it _was_.


	13. Chapter 13

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 13 -She's Not Half As Pretty As You Are-**

After I got off the phone with Devilica Badcliffe (I decided I'd call her that from now on,) I figured that it was high time that I get out of this palace. I had been her for what...4 days? And I hadn't even been outside yet.I was definitely feeling the effects of being cooped up in one place for too long.

So I meandered down the large marble staircase and down to the foyer. I went out the front door, the way I had came in, and out into the gray daylight. I sighed as I walked out along the sprawling grounds before me, besides Julian, this whole place was really amazing. Now if only he'd be kinder, at least a little, then it would be perfect.

I walked around the castle a few times, taking in my surroundings. The palace was in the middle of a vast clearing, with a dense forest on either side. Truthfully, I didn't actually know where we were or how far away we were from London. The dirt road that led out of the clearing and into the woods looked very old, and it made me think that we were very far away from civilization.

I sighed, wondering if would be allowed to venture out beyond this place and into the city. I was starting to miss _people_, besides Julian, there was no one to talk to now that Lilith was gone. And I really did want to see what this whole 'Vampire Court' was, and see if I was as hated as Devilica had said I was.

On my third trip around, I was in the backyard (well it wasn't exactly a backyard, more of like a meadow in the back of the palace), when I heard my name being called, frantically.

"SERA?! SERA?!" Julian's voice shouted from around front. I could hear his thudding footsteps come around the corner and he abruptly stopped in front of me with a worried, yet livid expression on his face.

"What are you doing?" He asked, choking on his own anger. I shrugged.

"What do you think I'm doing?" I asked nonchalantly, I still had no idea why he was so frantic.

"Being _very_ stupid. That's what." He replied, his eyes darker than usual. He took hold of my arm and started pulling me towards the front door.

"Hey! Stop that!" I exclaimed, struggling to get out of his grasp. It was quite futile, he was very strong.

"Sera, you _could_ be a little more cautious! Why didn't you at _least _tell me what you were doing or where you were going?!" He asked, stopping abruptly to look straight into my eyes. This action, even though he was mad, made a chill go up and down my spine. I almost forgot what I was talking about.

"Oh uh. I guess I just didn't think about it." I responded in kind of a dazed tone.

"Well, next time...just tell me." He responded, calming down a lot, his eyes already going soft. I felt my heart start to race as I watched him above me, still staring at me. All of his anger, and my confusion, seemed to melt away in this one perfect moment. He stepped closer, until we were touching. I could feel his face getting nearer to mine. I could smell his sweet, pepperminty breath on my face, and I could count every single one of his dark lashes.

Until something hit me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling us both out of this strange trance. He looked at me, his mouth tight.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You've been acting strangely all morning. First getting all upset when I called to you because of my fangs, now getting upset when I just innocently went outside for a moment. Something has to be wrong." I concluded. Julian's eyes clouded over in anger.

"Nothing." He said hardly.

"Julian. I'm warning you, if you don't tell me, I'll...I'll...do something very stupid!" I warned, and finally, I saw him crack a small smile. But then it went away.

"The lycans know you are here, and they are coming for you." He said very quickly, and for a second, I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly.

"They- what?" I asked.

"They know that you're here. They want your head on their wall, alongside all my other ancestors." He said.

"Your family was killed by _lycans_? But I thought you said vampires were the most powerful?!" I exclaimed, suddenly fearful that they would get me. After all, they had killed _all _of Julian's ancestors.

"Yes well, I've killed many of the current leaders as well. In fact, this particular one has a very large grudge against me, because I killed his brother a few years ago." He answered.

"So he's going to kill me? And then kill you?" I asked.

"No, of course not. I'll kill him if even dares to step _near_ you. As for me? I can defend myself, obviously." He answered. I flushed at him talking about defending me, as if he cared about my life. But, probably not. I mean, I was his fiancee and all. He had to protect me, so I could produce _heirs_ and all that business.

"Obviously. Fine. I'll tell you if I decide to go outside, and I won't scream for you from now on. But you can't treat me like a baby, cause I'm _not._" I said. Julian sighed.

"Fine. Now can we get inside? I think it's going to rain." He retorted, looking up to the sky.

"Fine." I answered, walking back to the palace doors with him.

"Julian...who is Angelica Radcliffe?" I asked him when we were inside. I was careful to use her _real _name, not my precious nickname for her. Julian made a face of disgust.

"How do you know _her_?" He asked.

"She called me, she just wanted to kindly let me know that I'm hated at the Vampire Court and that everyone thinks you and her should be together." I relayed the information from Angelica to Julian.

"That..._girl_! She is so foolish! She treats people she thinks are under her like rocks in her shoe! As if I could _ever_ like her. Besides, she has the face of a back-end of a cow." He said. I looked at him and laughed.

"I can't believe you said that! But seriously, Julian. She _must_ be beautiful, she's a vampire." I answered. Julian rolled his eyes.

"I suppose to some, she can be considered beautiful. But believe me, she is not half as pretty as you are." He answered, smiling almost shyly. I smiled back, feeling flattered and embarassed.

"By the way, please call me Jules. All my friends do." He added. My eyebrows raised at him.

"What? Are we _friends_ now or something?" I asked. Julian smiled full on and strode over to give me a chaste kiss on the cheek. The action still warmed me and sent the ever-present butterflies to flit around my stomach.

"Something like that." He said in my ear and started to walk off.

Of course, he didn't make it very far when suddenly, the front doors slammed open, revealing a handsome young man looking _very_ distraught. And that was just his face. His entire body was covered in deep scrapes and gashes, blood flowing from them and pooling on the marble floor.

"Mortimer!" Julian cried out in anguish.


	14. Chapter 14

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 14 -The Darkest Time of the Day-**

It had been, literally, _hours_ since Mortimer had staggered into the palace and Julian had taken him upstairs to his room and shut the door. Twilight twinkled outside and I could see the darkness of night was soon going to be on us. I sighed and paced once more in my room, while servants and attendants ran in and out with various things.

It wasn't as if I wasn't allowed in Julian's room, I just didn't want to get involved with whatever was going on. I didn't even really _know_ who Mortimer was. All I remembered was Lilith telling me that he was Julian's advisor.

On that note, I figured it might be time to give Julian's aunt a call, to tell her what had happened. To my knowledge, she didn't know yet. I picked up my phone and quickly found her in my contacts and hit 'send'.

"Sera?" She asked in surprise, as if she wasn't expecting me to call her at all.

"Hey. I just wanted to tell you what happened." I said.

"What happened?" She asked, in a little more urgent tone. "Did you and Julian-"

"No. It's not about me and Julian. Julian's advisor, Mortimer, staggered into the palace this morning with all sorts of deep wounds on his body." I told her. I heard her gasp and then curse on the other end.

"I _told_ them not to let him go through with this!" She said angrily.

"Go through with what?" I asked, not understanding what she was talking about. I heard her sigh.

"Mortimer was supposed to be spying on the lycans, to see if he could get any information about what was happening with them, because we think that they're trying to get around the whole soul-mate thing. I didn't think it was a good idea, and apparantley, I was right." She explained, sounding a little satisfied with herself.

"You don't sound too worried." I returned bluntly.

"What? For Mortimer's health? He'll be _fine_. It takes more than a few scratches to kill a vampire. I'm just worried because now they're onto us." She said.

"It was a little more than a few scratches, Lilith." I told her.

"Sera, believe me. He'll be _fine._ But thank you for telling me this. I'm going to go have to talk to the Vampire Court about it." She told me, sounding weary.

"Hey...Lilith? What _is_ the Vampire Court, anyway?" I asked.

"It's like the English Parliament, and many of the vampires on the Court are also on Parliment in the House of Lords and Commons. We really just basically make decisions about what vampires can and can't do, what we have to do about the lycans, and the orginization of all the balls and functions, which is my favorite part." She explained again.

"Does everyone there really _hate_ me?" I asked quietly.

"Who told you that?" She asked, alarmed.

"Lady Angelica Radcliffe." I told her.

"That insolent little twit! She told me she just wanted to make you feel welcome! That is the last time I help _her_ out. Really, Sera, no one really thinks anything of you, yet. They don't even know you. The only people that dislike you I think are Julian's little fan club, of which Lady Angelica is the president. I should have known she'd do something like this." She told me. I sighed in relief.

"Now, if you could, would you please go tell Julian that you told me about Mortimer and that I'll take care of everything? No doubt he is wringing his hands off, just wondering what he's going to do, on top of everything else." Lilith asked.

"Sure. Thanks for taking care of it." I said.

"By the way, how _are_ things with you and Julian?" She asked, slyly.

"...Good. I think." I responded truthfully.

"Good. By the way, invitations will be coming to you today for the Summer Ball, which I coordinated. Now I know Julian doesn't usually go to those things, he says he's too busy, but it's really because he doesn't like all the people, but if _you_ tell him you want to go, I think he'll go." She told me.

"All right..." I answered, uneasily.

"Well, bye then." She quipped.

"See ya." I returned, then hung up and went over to Julian's room's door. I knocked on it tentativley.

"Who is it?" Came Julian's voice from inside.

"Sera, with a message from Lilith." I told him.

"Come in!" He said and I opened the door. I could see Mortimer laying on the bed, in blood soaked sheets, but he actually didn't look too bad. The gashes were healing very nicely, with just little scratches showing. _Wow,_ I thought, _Lilith was right_. 

"What does Lilith have to say?" Asked Julian, a little nervously.

"Well she said you'd be doing exactly what you're doing, feeling nervous about the situation. But she said she'd take care of it at the Vampire Court." I told him. He sighed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God. Now, Mort, what were you going to tell me?" Julian asked, turning his attention on the man laying in the bed, who glanced over to me uneasily.

"Don't worry. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of her as well. After all, she is the future Queen." Julian said and I almost shuddered at the word. I really didn't _want_ to be Queen. I didn't know how to rule anything, and I barely even knew how to take care of _myself_ let alone a whole race of monsters. But instead I looked over to Mortimer, trying to force a smile. He was very handsome, of course, with a broad frame and dark hair with dark eyes, like Julian. The two almost could be brothers.

"Well. I only have bad news to report. The lycans have found out a way around the soul-mate business." Mortimer relayed. Julian's face contorted in anger and something else that looked a little like fear.

"They've created a drug that will allow Illuminatas and Umbrias to mix. They won't be as strong as the Umbrias, or as cunning as the Illuminatas, but they will be a pretty strong combination of the two." He explained. Julian paced around the room, thinking.

"Let's see if we can try to stop their operation, so they aren't able to go any further into their research. We _don't_ want them to be able to get around the soul-mate ritual with two Umbrias." He said quickly, looking at Mortimer.

But before Mortimer could reply, a servant entered the room and curtsied.

"This just came for His Royal Majesty." She said, meaning Julian, who took it, distracted, until he saw the handwriting. He opened the envelope, scanned it over a few times and then threw it to Mortimer. I looked over Mortimer's shoulder and felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle as I read it:

Now you know who you're dealing with.  
We will not back down. You will never be able to stop us.  
We only kept him alive so he could relay our message.  
Next time, he, or anyone who tries to spy on us, won't be so lucky.

"Who was _that_?" I asked, feeling my stomach churn as I looked to Mortimer, who looked obviously shaken.

"J.J. Giraldi. The leader of the lycanthropes." Mortimer sighed.

"You know what this means, don't you." Julian said darkly, as he turned his eyes on me and Mortimer.

"This means _war._"


	15. Chapter 15

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 15 -The Summer Ball-

Julian would have had to go to The Summer Ball anyway, even if Lilith told me he'd only go if I wanted him to. I didn't even have to pretend I wanted him to go, anyway. He had to announce that the Vampire Clan was going to into war with the Lycanthrope Clan, something that hadn't been done since a very long time ago, I had been told.

So it was no wonder that Julian was really, _really_ nervous the night of the ball. I, of course was nervous too, for another reason entirely. What would people think of me? And would I have to make conversation with Devilica? That was something I really didn't want to do. I hadn't talked to her since she called me that one time, and I wasn't about to make a habit out of talking to her.

On the night of the ball, I dressed in a long blue strapless gown that Lilith had ordered for me and had sent to the palace. I was glad for that, she had really nice style and I didn't exactly own any dresses here. I only had one problem with it, and that was the fact that it made me feel a little..._exposed_.

I walked into Julian's room, wondering if he could tell me what he thought of the dress. I knew it wasn't going to be the same as if Lilith were there, but I needed a second opinion. There wasn't exactly another option, but what the heck.

Julian stood in front of his mirror in a dapper looking tuxedo. He looked pretty gorgeous and it took me a second to remember what I was going to ask him about.

"Uh. Er. Jules? What do you think about this?" I asked him, using the nickname he said I could use. I used it instead of his full name, figuring that he probably liked Jules better than Julian, the way I liked Sera instead of Seraphina. Well, I _hated_ Seraphina, but whatever.

Julian turned around and did a double-take as he saw me.

"Whoa." I heard behind me and I turned to see Mortimer standing in the doorway, with a suit on that was similar to Julian's.

"Ew! Don't hit on me, you perv!" I joked, casually hitting him on the arm.

"Just kidding, just kidding." He said, backing off a little. I laughed and turned back to Julian. My laughter died when I noticed that he was still staring at me, in some awe.

"What? Don't tell me you think it's _that_ bad." I cringed, hoping he didn't think it was too ugly. It wasn't as if I wanted his approval, but I didn't want him to _not_ like it either. Finally, Julian seemed to find his words.

"No. No it's beautiful. _You're_ beautiful." He said quietly and I blushed, feeling the happiness from his compliment go through me like electricity.

"Well, let's get going, you two lovebirds. The king can't be late to make his important announcement." Mortimer said and Julian pressed his lips together.

"Aw Mort. You know how Jules doesn't wanna do what he has to." I said, feeling badly for Julian, like, _really_ badly. Apparantley a lot of the Vampire Court thought he was too young to be king, and never agreed with him anyway. But Jules, Mort and I knew the lycanthropes had to be stopped, once and for all. They had threatened me, hurt Mort and found a way around the soul-mate ritual. Besides the fact that they had killed all of Jules's forefathers.

Julian smiled at my defense of him and held up his elbow, which I linked mine with.

"You know, tonight will be the first night that we are formally introduced as a couple." He said to me as we descended the marble staircase out to the car waiting for us outside. I made a face of disgust.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." I said. He looked at me with confusion.

"Why would I be sorry about that?" He asked.

"You know, cause we don't want to get married? Remember?" I questioned, feeling curiously pleased that Julian had forgotten that he didn't want to marry me.

"Oh. Oh yes. Of course. No, I don't want this wedding." He mumbled, in a strange voice. I didn't say anything, but felt odd about it.

We were actually not too far from London, and we got to the ball only a few minutes after it started. Apparantley, vampires usually aren't fashionably late because for vampires, it's not fashionable to be late. The only one who could make that exception was, of course, the king.

I was nervous as Julian and I were led out of the limo and into the ballroom. When we stepped in, a coronet trumpeted our arrival. It made me feel like I was haughty, which just actually made me feel embarassed. I blushed as everyone went silent.

"Presenting His Royal Highness, Julian Courtier and his fiancee, Miss Seraphina Jacobson!" a man across the room said into a microphone. Everyone politely clapped as Julian leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Sorry." Was all he said.

We made our way through the people and I instantly recognized what Lilith called "Julian's Fan Club". It was a bunch of girls who looked to be my age, hudled around the punch, shooting me death glares. The leader, who I could only guess was Devilica, stood straight ahead with her arms crossed. She really _was_ beautiful, with blonde ringlets and an ethereal face. Julian was crazy if he prefered me to her!

Everyone stayed silent as Julian and I walked up to the podium to the microphone. I didn't think they were expecting Julian to say anything, let alone be here. I could read the surprise in many peoples' face. Julian glanced at me wearily before stepping up to the microphone and leaning down to talk.

"A month ago, the Court decided to send my most trusted advisor, Mortimer Beauxhomme, on a mission to see what the lycans were up to. Well, he has returned alive, but only because the lycans wished to give us a message. They wish to tell us that they have found a way around the soul-mate ritual. They can now have an Illuminata mate with an Umbria." He said and many people gasped, whispered incoherently to each other and in general, looked very frightened.

"This puts us in grave danger. They have now not only attacked my adivsor Mortimer, they also threatened to put my fiancee's head on their wall, alongside my father and his fathers before him. I have decided that because of this, it is time to act. We must go into war with the lycans." He told them. I wasn't expecting their reaction. Because of the way Julian was saying it, I thought people would kill him for even suggesting such a thing. But actually, most people were nodded along with him.

"We will formally vote on this in the Vampire Court within the next week, and if it is passed, we will gather an army and declare war on the lycans. I understand if this seems very quick, and that we have not been in a formal war with the lycans for hundreds of years now, but I think this situation is like nothing we've seen before. We must stop them once and for all before they become more powerful." He concluded and stepped away. There was clapping from everyone around us, and even cheers.

I looked at Julian and gave him a huge grin and in return, his kissed me lightly on the cheek. He led me down to the floor, where people stood around congratulating him on his wise decision and also on our future marriage.

"You were worried for nothing." I smiled at him, but his face turned a little disgruntled as we danced, a few moments later. Truthfully, I wasn't a very good dancer, but I tried to just follow Julian, who knew all the steps.

"True, the people want to be rid of the lycans, but many of the men in the Court will oppose this just because _I _want it." He replied.

"Don't worry, I think you are doing the right thing." I told him. Julian looked at me strangely for a moment.

"Sera...hypothetically speaking, how would you feel if we actually _got _married?" he asked after a few uncomfortable seconds.

"Hypothetically? I don't know. Sometimes you can be hard to live with and you get mad for nothing and freaked out, but I think the last time you got mad was just because you were worried. And I mean, you think I'm prettier than Angelica Radcliffe, which is _crazy_ because I just saw her, and I mean, you're not too bad looking yourself...I mean, I guess I could live with it." I said, feeling kind of akward.

"Well, the thing is, once vampires get married, we can't get divorced. It's sort of a, 'we're in this for life', kinda thing." He replied. I was silent. Honestly? I wouldn't know what an immortal life would be like with Julian. And I didn't know what he thought about having an immortal life with me would be like.

But the weirdest thing of all was that deep down inside, I was pretty sure that there was nothing in the world that would make me happier than being with Julian, _forever_.


	16. Chapter 16

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 16 -Calin-**

was getting some punch (which I found out quickly was actually alcoholic, not like the stuff they served at my lame-o senior prom) when I was suddenly tapped on the shoulder very roughly. I whirled around to see a group of nasty looking girls with the girl I assumed to be Devilica standing at the front.

"I was expecting you to be plain, but not _this_ plain." She said in the same snotty voice she had used over the phone.

"Yeah, I was expecting you to be a brat, but not _this_ much of a brat either, so I guess it evens out." I retorted with a smirk. She didn't even look fazed, which did kind of annoy me. The girls I used to go to school with could easily be dismissed with a simple witty retort to their stupid 'insults'.

"I wasn't kidding when I told you to stay away from Julian. You may think people like you here, but you're very much mistaken. _All _of our parents-" and with this, she gestured to her cronies behind her, "Think you're too common to be the future Queen. And of course, common is something I simply am not." She told me.

"Well, isn't that nice." I said, taking another swig of my punch just for spite, even though I didn't really like the taste, not being prone to alcohol and all that. Drinking this stuff would make it so I couldn't throw it on her and cause a scene. That wouldn't be good.

Suddenly, I heard a female voice behind me talk loudly.

"I don't remember them inviting _cows_ to the Summer Ball. So why are _you _here, Angelica?" It said and I looked over to see a beautiful brunette who looked a little older than me staring at Devilica with a burning hatred. I thought she just wouldn't be fazed, like when I had insulted her. But instead, she gave a toss of the head and took her group away. Apparantley she knew not to cross this girl.

"Thanks." I said slowly, after they were gone.

"No problem. I cannot stand that girl. She thinks she's better than everyone else because a couple people wanted her to get married to Julian. And those couple people would have to be her mother and father." She said. I snorted and the girl stuck her hand out.

"I'm Mercedes." She said as I shook it.

"Seraphina. But you can call me Sera." I replied.

"Oh yeah, like I don't know who you are." She laughed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was someone here who liked me.

"I am kind of surprised though that Julian's getting married. He had always said he wasn't going to." Mercedes said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Well, it's an arranged marriage. I mean I'm only 18." I said.

"What?!" She asked incredulously.

"What's wrong with being 18?" I asked.

"Well, if you're 18 years old, you should be have like...the appearance of a 4 year old." She said.

"Oh. I'm a half-vampire." I responded.

"Ohh. I see." She nodded in understanding.

"Why? How old are you?" I asked.

"Um, 215 years old." She said. I stared at her. "I know. I look pretty good for my age." She laughed. "It's the whole vampire thing. We age really weirdly. You see, to humans, I look about 23 years old. But I'm actually a lot older. But you see Julian, he's only like 50 years old and he looks 18. I think it's because like half-vampires, vampires don't completley develop after their 18th birthday, so thats when their aging really slows down." She explained, seeing as I probably still looked confused.

"Julian is _50_?! I can't marry him! That's so gross!" I told her. She shrugged.

"Besides the fact that the mind always ages slower in vampires so truthfully, he is like an 18 year old, age doesn't matter as much with vampires when looking for their mates. I mean, Julian's dad was 190 when he married his mom, who was 50. So it's not a big deal." She shrugged.

"So, how do you know Julian anyway?" I asked. At this, she strangely blushed.

"We uh sort of have a mutual friend." She mumbled and I could tell a secret in her. But I didn't want to push it. At that moment, the subject of our conversation, along with Mortimer, showed up.

"Well, I don't really want to stay here, so would you mind if we headed home?" He asked. I didn't blame him for not wanting to stay longer, I could tell he looked uncomfortable. I looked at Mercedes, who was oddly blushing like a madman. I looked back to Julian and then noticed that Mortimer was looking at the floor, also blushing. My eyebrows raised. I would bet a hundred bucks that this was the 'mutual friend' Mercedes had just been talking about.

"Well Mercedes, it was nice to meet you. I hope we'll see each other again soon. You should come over some time." I said and with that she looked at me and struggled a smile. I grinned slyly back as I once again took Julian's elbow.

We left the ball and quickly got into the awaiting limo. The drive back was long, and it made me realize _just_ how tired I really was, which was funny because I hadn't been really tired in a long time now. Pretending to dance was really tough!

We got to the palace when the moon was high in the sky. It basked the palace, the fountain and the front lawn in an eerie blue light.

"Ugh. Creepy." I shuddered as we got out of the car and were walking into the palace. I leaned into Julian, who put a strong arm around me. Oddly enough, it felt really right to stand like that with him. It made me think about what he had said before, about actually getting married...

But my thoughts were stopped as we stepped inside and I distinctivley saw the outline of someone else in the shadows of the foyer. Julian tensed up beside me, hugging his arm closer to me now.

"Who's there?" He asked in a dangerous voice. The person, whoever it was, stepped out into the light of the candles ablaze in the foyer. It was a devilishly handsome looking man, who looked a little younger than Julian, with dark brown hair, blue eyes and a smirk on his face as if he had just won the lottery.

"Calin." Mortimer breathed beside me.

"Really Julian. I'm surprised you wouldn't even recognize your beloved little brother."


	17. Chapter 17

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 17 -The Nice Brother-**

I'm soooo sorry this update is late! I worked from 3 to 5, then I went to the movies with my friends. We saw Sweeney Todd, _again_, I love that movie, even though it's acurately incorect! Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

I heard Julian snort beside me as he looked at the new person standing in the foyer.

"Really Calin. I _obviously_ recognized you, I just wanted you to give you a chance to leave on your own free will before I have to force you out." He stated calmly, but Calin only laughed at his threat.

"Come now. I live here too." He replied, the same smirk still plastered on his face. I had to admit, he was gorgeous, in a different way than Julian. While Julian had more manly features, Calin's were light and almost translucent. Truthfully, it just added to my fear of him.

"That's _not_ what you said when you abandoned us after father was killed." Julian retorted, all of his good humor gone.

"And that _is _true. But it doesn't mean I'm going to leave. I plan on staying here, at least for awhile. And I'd like to get to know your future bride. I mean, we _are _going to be family, after all." Calin replied, smiling wickedly. I gulped nervously.

"If you touch her, I will rip you to shreds." Julian said in the most dangerous voice I had ever heard. But Calin only smirked more.

"I'll see you in the morning." He said and darted upstairs. Once he was gone, it was as if a huge weight was lifted. There wasn't half as much tension as there had been when he was here.

"Is he really that bad?" I asked Julian, who glanced at me warily.

"Remember when Lilith mentioned that I should invite my cousin Hunter to stay with us?" He asked and I did distinctivley remember the way he had reacted to that.

"Let's just say, if Lilith had mentioned _Calin_, I would have reacted a thousand times worse." He said and I felt a chill go through me. I didn't understand what made Calin think he could cross Julian. Years of being with him, probably. But still, I wouldn't dare want to be on Julian's bad side.

"Maybe you two should go to sleep. It's been a _very_ long day." Mortimer said. Julian looked at him severely.

"You know perfectly well the amount of work I have to get done before tomorrow. We _are _on the brink of a war, after all." Julian told him.

"And I can do that. You need to sleep. I know we vampires don't need _much _sleep, but we still need some. And you are in dire need of some shut eye, so I don't want to hear another word about it. Go." Mortimer said in a commanding, fatherly way. I smiled and started up the stairs.

Julian sighed but then joined me. When we reached the top of the stairs he stopped me.

"Calin's bedroom is the last one in the left wing. He shouldn't disturb you, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that he is far enough away." Julian told me softly.

"Why do you two hate each other, anyway?" I asked. Julian sighed.

"Calin is...jealous. Although his jealousy is completley directed wrongly, I can understand what makes him so angry. I do feel a little sorry for him though."

"Is he jealous that you're king?" I questioned, knowing I wouldn't get a straight answer from Julian, at least not tonight, but really wanting to know. Julian smiled and put a hand on my head affectionatley.

"You do not need to worry yourself about Calin. If I have any say in the matter, he will soon be gone." Julian said and leaned down to kiss my cheek. I noticed that the kiss was sort of near my mouth, and I had actually thought he was about to kiss my lips. When he pulled his head away, I saw a blush on his cheeks. Obviously he hadn't meant to kiss me so close to my mouth.

"Well, goodnight." I almost whispered. Julian nodded in response and went into his room, while I went into mine.

I jumped in surprise as I noticed a figure sitting on my bed.

"Sera." Calin's voice penetrated the darkness. I quickly turned on the lamp beside my table, basking the room in a warm glow. It did not make the hairs on my arms go away.

"Yes." I saw flatly, trying to hide the fear in my voice. Calin chuckled.

"No worries. I wouldn't dare touch you, truly, I am _not_ that stupid, no matter what you think." He told me.

"Well that's...nice." I replied uncomfortably. He laughed full-on.

"Really, Sera. There is nothing to be afraid of. I think that Julian must paint a very frightful picture of me. I am actually not so much of a bad person. I wasn't called The Nice Brother for nothing, you know." Calin said mischeviously, as if he knew I'd ask him what he meant.

"What do you mean?" I asked. His smirk told me I was correct in my thinking.

"Well Julian was never the popular one with our social circles, while I always was. Julian was always jealous of me, which is why he practically threw me out after our father died. Because he was going to be king and he didn't want me to be king, because he thought I'd do something to him to take the throne. He didn't even trust his own brother." Calin said.

"Well, that's a very nice story, but I'm tired and I want to go to bed." I stated to him, not believing a word he was saying. As if I believed that _Julian_ was jealous of _Calin_! I would much prefer to believe Julian's word over Calin's.

"Oh, you don't believe me, do you?" Calin smirked.

"No, I don't really care. Why are you telling me this, anyway? It's not going to change my opinion of Julian anyway, so it _doesn't _matter." I retorted, annoyed that he wouldn't just leave me alone. Jeez, he reminded me of what Julian was like when I first met him!

"I see. So you really do have a good opinion of Julian. I had heard you did, but I never thought it would really ever happen..." Calin said quietly. I pursed my lips.

"Stop talking and making no sense! It's really infuriating!" I told him, really annoyed now. Calin looked to me, a glint in his eye. He started straight for me and, afraid, I started to back up until I was hitting the wall. He had me cornered and put his hands next to my face on the wall.

"I am telling you about Julian because I plan to steal you away from him, just to let you know." Calin said in a silky voice that was coated with danger. I couldn't help but feel fear as I heard his words.

But before I had _any _time to react, Calin leaned down and kissed me.


	18. Chapter 18

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 18 -Admiration and Adoration-

Thank you all for the nice reviews!! Please enjoy this part!! 3

I pushed Calin off of me roughly the second his lips crashed with mine. It was more difficult than I thought though, to push him off. He only _looked _small. He was just as strong as Julian and just as deadly. I had to be careful around this guy, but not right now. Right now he had just kissed me against my will.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I screamed in hushed tones, not wanting to make Julian suspect anything. Calin merely smirked and stepped away from me. "You said you wouldn't touch me!" I added, feeling hatred towards this man in front of me.

Calin now wore an innocent expression as he shrugged. "Oops?" He asked, feigning guilt. I felt my anger building towards the insolent man that stood in front of me. 

"Get out of my room!" I said, opening my door and doing my best to push him out. He didn't budge as convienently as he had before, though.

"You just wait, Sera. One day, you'll be mine. You can't escape that." He said silkily, fingering my hair lightly. I swatted his hand away.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I'm yours." I answered, and to this, he smirked.

"You'd be surprised. It's actually quite chilly down there. Trust me, _I'd know_." He told me then elegantly sweeped out of my room. I stared after him in confusion and annoyance. That only lasted a few moments before my exhaustion consumed me. This day had been _way_ too long.

I crawled into bed and let sleep consume me almost immediatley, but not without the gnawing sense of guilt that was at the back of my head that was a constant reminder that I felt as if I had betrayed Julian.

I woke up feeling almost as tired as I had when I had fallen asleep. The night had been filled with restlessness and dreams of Julian finding out what Calin had done and being angry with me. I knew I should tell Julian what Calin had done last night, I should tell him right away and let Julian kill him...or something.

So why couldn't I? Something was telling me not to. I couldn't explain it, but for some reason, I actually felt a little _sorry _for Calin. There had to be some reason why he hated Julian, he couldn't just blindly hate him, could he? No...there had to be something. And until I knew what it was, I didn't want to get Calin in trouble.

But it didn't stop me from hating him for what he had done. It wasn't as if he was my first kiss, but Julian hadn't even kissed me yet...and I hadn't even known Calin for a day and I had known Julian for a couple weeks now.

I wandered down to the dining hall when I walked by Julian's office. The door was ajar and I could see Julian inside, bent over something and scrawling madly at it with his fountain pen.

"Hey." I said quietly to him when I went in. Julian looked up at me with bleary eyes, a sure sign of not much sleep.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He asked politely. I smiled a little and shrugged.

"Not really...but I can tell I'm not the only one." I responded, and to this, Julian smiled a small smile.

"True. But you still need more sleep than I do." He said and I snorted.

"Yeah, right. _I'm _not The King of Vampires." I told him and his small smile turned bigger. I walked over to his desk and sat in the chair in front of it, leaning back into it.

"I hope Calin hasn't been much of a bother to you." He said softly and lowly. I sighed, feeling instantly guilty.

"Not really. I can't say that I like him, but I do feel a little sorry for him." I responded. Julian nodded in agreement.

"As do I. I never understood why he was jealous of me. He was always the more popular one. But that was mostly because I was very quiet. And I tried to be the best brother I could be to him, but it isn't my fault that I was the older brother." Julian said to me, almost cryptically.

"Why would it matter if you were older?" I asked.

"Because I was first in line to be king, my father and mother spent most of their time training me. Because of this, they hardly had enough time to care about Calin." He explained.

"I see. But that wasn't your fault." I said. Julian looked at me and I was shocked by the amount of pain that was in his eyes, as if he were trying to conceal very painful memories. There was obvioulsy more to the story than he was telling me. Suddenly, I remembered something that Lilith had said awhile ago, about Julian not liking people telling him what to do.

_He lived his entire life under oppression from his father...___

I could only guessed what that meant, but I knew it couldn't be good. Strangely enough though, it only added to my admiration of the elder Courtier brother. That he could live through a bad childhood to grow up to be the man I knew and...

_loved_?

No. No. No. I could never ever _ever _love Julian! I had only met him a few weeks ago! I was totally and completley opposed to this marriage! I wanted to find a way out of it! I didn't love him, I didn't, I...

did.

The realization hit me suddenly and I all too strangely saw Julian in a different way. I had never noticed how distinctivley beautiful and regal his features were, how he seated himself, the way he held himself. It was almost otherwordly. The thought of loving Julian made me feel almost as if I had been held under water for so long and suddenly I was coming up for my first breath...

"Jules...why did you ask me about the marraige thing last night at the ball?" I asked in a strange breathlessness. He regarded me softly.

"I'm sorry if that upset you or made you uncomfortable. I simply thought that maybe marrying you wouldn't be as bad as I had previously thought." He admitted almost sheepishly. I smiled stupidly, feeling the compliment go through me and my heart flutter with pleasure.

"I've just been thinking and I...well...I think that marrying you wouldn't be so bad after all..." I told him shyly and my stomach filled with butterflies as I saw the delighted grin spread throughout his face.

Little did we know, Calin had been at the door, listening to our entire conversation with tight lips and dark eyes.


	19. Chapter 19

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 19 -Second To None-

So the next few weeks slipped by strangely and soon, there were only 2 months before the wedding. Julian was awaiting the decision from the Court to declare war on the lycanthropes, Mercedes came over sometimes to keep me and Mortimer company, Calin actually most of the time left me alone (oddly) and Julian and I fell into a very polite, non-romantic and wholly _unsatisfying _relationship.

At least on my part. Ever since I had realized I loved the guy, I kept wanting to be close to him, to kiss him, to do something with him, weird as it seemed. I couldn't believe that I loved a guy that I knew for about a month, but all the proof was there. I just hated thinking that my relationship with Julian was never going to go anywhere.

One day I was coming down to the dining hall for breakfast, I had long since gotten my bloodlust and was now drinking blood with every meal (I wasn't biting people, just drinking blood that I got in a glass), when I accidentally tripped over the last stair. I hadn't been watching where I was going, actually, I had been reading a book from the library.

Oddly enough, instead of hitting the floor with a loud thud, I felt myself fall into a pair of strong arms. I looked up to see Calin looking at me softly. I blushed and scrambled to set myself straight.

"Thanks." I said quickly, feeling akward and a little scared. Calin simply nodded and turned to walk away. "Wait!" I called after him. He turned around.

"Why are you ignoring me? What happened to the whole, 'I'm stealing you away from Julian' thing? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just wondering..." I asked. Calin shrugged and smiled.

"I would do anything I could to hurt Julian, but I wouldn't want to hurt you. I know that you love him, and I don't want to do anything to screw you up." He told me and I laughed a little.

"I think that's code for you don't think you could do it." I told him and Calin smiled almost rougishly. I wasn't quite as scared of him anymore, for some reason, he seemed harmless now. And I couldn't even remember what had scared me about him.

"That is where you're wrong. I could steal you away instantly. But, like I said, I won't. At least, not until you want me to." He replied and I scoffed.

"You're cocky, aren't you?" I asked, starting up again to the dining room. He followed me with a smirk on his face.

"No. Just confident. And it doesn't hurt to be confident." He told me.

"Oh, thanks. I'll remember that." I said as we walked into the dining hall. Julian wasn't there and when I saw that, I sighed deeply. He was busy, _again_, trying to get the Court to say that we could go to war. It wasn't as if I didn't want him to do his duties, I just wanted him to spend a _little _time with me.

"I'm sorry that Juian is so busy all the time, but that is how it is with the King. They'll never let anyone be first to their duties. It's always duties first, people second. That's how it was with my father, and that's how it is with Julian." Calin told me, as if he knew what I was thinking. I laughed a little uneasily.

"Well, you know how it is. Jules is busy. I wouldn't want to disturb him anyway." I said to Calin, trying not to let the disssapointment fill my voice. I knew Calin was right. Even if Julian loved me as much as I loved him, I could never be on the top of his list. I would always be second.

Calin touched my hand carefully, probably trying not to scare me. I looked at him and was surprised to see genuine concern in his eyes.

"You don't deserve to be second to anything." He said quietly and I suddenly felt my heart thump beneath my chest. Calin's flattering words were certainly working.

"You're just saying that." I struggled to say, but even when I was able to say it, it came out sort of chokily. Calin shook his head no a little and smiled. He placed his hand on top of mine and leaned into me, just a little bit more. The logical part of me knew to push him away, how could I let him kiss me, _again_? But the other half of me wanted to believe what he was saying, that he would put me first, even when Julian had me second...

Fortunatley, I didn't have to decide. The doors banged open and Calin and I skirted away from each other in surprise. Julian was striding through, a triumphant smile on his face.

"What's got you so happy?" Calin drawled in a snide voice, the voice that reminded me why I didn't like him before. But for some reason, it didn't irk me as much as it used to. Maybe Calin was faking the whole 'nice' thing to steal me away from Julian, but he had seemed to real...and I had liked it...but it confused me, so much!

"The Court gave me my answer. They've decided to declare war on the lycanthropes. They're rounding up the army. It's going to be huge and it's going to be very, very good. And we're finally going to stop those stupid dogs." Julian said as he sat down at the head of the table. I smiled faintly to him.

"That's nice." I said, feeling incredibley guilty when I looked at him. I still loved him, a lot. How could I even think about being with another guy when I already _had _Julian? But...I didn't even know if Julian loved me, or even _liked _me back.

The smile Julian gave me back made me feel even guiltier. When I looked back to Calin, I realized that he was gone. I felt confused and guilty, but looked back to Julian, trying to forget about Calin, once and for all. One tiny moment between Calin and I couldn't make me forget about my secret love for my fiancee.

"So, today, I officially don't have anything to do, and I was wondering if you wanted to go into London with me. I know you haven't been out of the house very often, and when you do, you just go out to the gardens." He told me and I blushed at the fact that he had remembered where I went to when I went out of the house even though I had only told him once.

"I'd love to." I told him and Julian looked positivley ecstatic that I had said yes. I blushed. "Is this like a date or something?" I asked, feeling kind of stupid for asking.  
"Hmm. I suppose so. But you don't need to dress up or act like anyone but yourself. I just think that we haven't really been able to spend any time together, and we should probably get to know each other if we're going to get married." He told me.

I felt my heart flutter as I heard him say that he felt as if we hadn't been able to spend much time with each other either. So at least I wasn't the only one.

After breakfast, Julian and I set off. As we walked through the foyer, I caught sight of Calin, standing on the steps. I looked to him and gave him a small smile and then looked back ahead.

If I had looked back, I would have seen that in Calin's eyes was complete and utter devastation.


	20. Chapter 20

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 20 -We Aren't Lovers!!-

So, Sera. Do you want to tell me what was up with you and Calin this morning before I came into the dining room?" Julian asked. I gulped intinctivley, feeling completley guilty about what had happened this morning.

"Um, nothing." I tried to reply nonchalantly as Julian and I walked around downtown London. I was worried we'd be conspicuous, what with our fangs and all, but strangely enough, they went away when we were around humans. According to Julian, they only came out when we were only in the presence of other vampires and when we were hunting, which was something I wasn't looking forward to doing.

"Of course. Nothing is the reason you are looking like a child who just broke an expensive vase." Julian answered, with a slight smile on his face and I blushed.

"I guess I just...well, Calin isn't as bad as I thought he was." I told him.

"Oh? So you were about to kiss him because he isn't as bad as you thought he was?" Julian asked, his voice abnormally calm. I looked up to him and could see that there was anger in his eyes, and his face was strained, trying to look as if he didn't care.

"I wasn't about to kiss him. He was just saying that...well...well...I sort of can't tell you." I answered sheepishly. Julian arched an eyebrow.

"I'm your fiance. Whatever happened to the whole 'no secrets between lovers' thing?" He asked and I blushed deeply.

"We're not lovers!" I muttered embarassed. Julian stopped me and leaned down to meet his face with mine. We were very close and I thought he was about to kiss me.

"Humor me?" He questioned instead and I sighed, starting to walk again, not even sure where we were going.

"Calin said he was going to steal me away from you." I told him and Julian didn't do what I expected, which was go flying into a huff. Instead, he laughed.

"It's not funny! It's very serious! But anyway, that's not why he was about to kiss me this morning! He saved me from tripping down the last stair on the stairway and then I was just talking to him...and he was just...nice, okay?" I admitted.

"Calin...nice? Calin has never been nice to _anyone. _I don't mean to burst your fantasy bubble, Sera, but his niceness is probably just a facade to get you to fall in love with him. But just curious, what did he say?" asked Julian. I sighed again.

"He was just saying about how...with you, I'll never be first. I'll always be second to your duties. And I just sort of think he's right. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but then he said how I didn't deserve to be second to anything..." I trailed off. Julian had stopped walking again. I stopped and turned back to him. This time he was looking at me with his mouth, twisted in an emotion I couldn't figure out.

"You believe that he is..._right_? That you are second to my duties as king?" He struggled to say, as if it was painful for him to say.

"I never said it was a bad thing! It's okay, really! I don't mind!" I lied outright. Of _course _I minded. But it wasn't like I could tell Julian. As I had previously said to him, we weren't lovers.

"Sera. Let me get one thing straight. You will never, ever be second to anything in my life. You are the first and foremost thing to me." Julian told me and I blushed as he leaned down once more and put his hands on my arms. "We may not be lovers, but you are my entire world now. I don't want you to think otherwise." He said quietly and I could feel myself blush even harder.

"I won't." I breathed softly, embarassed. Julian smiled and kissed my forehead as we continued to walk along the streets of London.

When Julian and I returned, it was almost night time. The sun was setting and it gave a brilliant red light that filtered in through the stained glass windows of the foyer, making colorful patterns on the marble floor. I wandered upstairs to take a shower, and didn't see Calin on my way up.

I showered lazily and when I came out, I dressed in sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt, a little tired from the day of walking. I was considering taking a nap, we didn't eat until very late, when suddenly I heard tapping on my window across from my bed.

I looked at the window and saw a dark head outside of my window. I opened it to see an unfarmiliar man clutching onto the outiside window sill. He lept up nimbly into my room.

"Thank you." He said in a rough voice and I looked at him with confusion. He was tall and looked about in his early 30s, much older than Julian. He was very handsome though, with sort of a rough beauty about him. He had stubble of a day-old beard and long brown hair. His attire was strange, all black with a long black trench coat and black combat boots. Around his neck was a cord with what looked like a vampire fang or an animal tooth on it.

"Did you just _climb _up the castle walls? And who are you, anyway?" I asked at the stranger, who smiled cordially.

"Of course I just climbed up the wall. It isn't so hard." He told me. "Especially if you know the secret to clmbing up walls." He added.

"You didn't answer my other question." I said uncertainly. This man was very...strange. He smiled again, to me.

"How rude of me. I forgot my manners. My name is J.J. Giraldi." He said, holding out a hand. I gasped. He was the leader of the lycanthropes! I had just let in my fiancee's mortal enemy in! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"W-what do you want?" I asked, not shaking his hand. J.J. smiled again, but this time I could see the malice and danger in his full set of gleaming teeth. He stuck his hand in his trenchcoat pocket, fumbling around for something in it.

"I would think that would be obvious, Seraphina Jacobson. I'm here to kidnap you." He said and with that, pulled his hand out of his pocket. He was holding some kind of cloth and before I had anytime to react, put it over my mouth.

Within two seconds I had fainted into a heap on the floor.


	21. Chapter 21

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 21 -I Found My Soul Mate-**

Please enjoy this part, this is in **Julian's Point of View**. I think I'm sort of getting into a pattern, every 10 parts I have Julian's point of view. Anyway, enjoy.

**Julian's Point of View:******

I found Calin sitting in my office, at my desk, just looking around the office. His presence didn't exactly anger me, but I couldn't say I liked having him here. I still felt sorry for him, but it wasn't as if I was going to continue to try to be the brother he'd never let me be.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him abruptly, and he turned on me with stone eyes.

"Sitting. What does it _look _like I'm doing?" He spat back icily.

"That isn't what I meant. I meant what are you doing _here _at the castle? You made it clear the night you left that you had no intention of returning." I retorted. Calin looked past me, as if remembering something very painful.

"I had to come back."

"Why? To steal my fiancee? She was damn near crying today when she said how you told her that my king duties would always have to come before her." I informed him, a little annoyed. His mouth switched up in a half-smile when I said that.

"No, not exactly. Like I said, I had to come back, and I figured that while I was here, I'd yet again make your life miserable. It always is fun for me."

"Then why did you _have _to come back? Where did you go? Not that I care or anything, but let me tell you, it would have been nice to have the support of my _brother_ when I was crowned King." I told him, just a little upset. His mouth turned into a straight line.

"When I left, even I have to admit, it was a too rash decision. But I was angry about what had happened to father. And I was angry that mother was dead, and they never even...well, anyway. I was attacked by lycans." He said.

"So?" I answered, not really caring about his stupid little tale. I just wanted to know why he felt the _need _to come back.

"I died." He said simply. I stared at him, shocked beyond belief.

"You _what_?!"

"The lycans killed me. I went to hell. But Lucifer had to send me back. He said he had to because I hadn't met my soul mate yet, so he was forced to send me back. So here I am." Calin told me.

"But soul mates don't exist." I said bluntly. "At least, not for vampires."

"We didn't. But something happened in our DNA and so now we do. Of course, it's only in a few vampires. Not every vampire has a soul mate." He responded.

"And you know this how?" I asked.

"My reaction was very similar to yours when Lucifer told me. So he explained it to me. Well, as much as he knew." Calin told me.

"So now you are looking for your soul mate?" I questioned and Calin smiled.

"No. I found her." He answered and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 

"You don't mean..." I started.

"Yes. I believe that Sera is my soul mate. And you won't stop me from taking her." He finished and I could intense anger surge through my veins. I leaned down on the desk and balled my hands up in fists to stop myself from punching him outright.

"I cannot allow you to do that." I told him, looking down at the desk. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Calin lift his chin in stubborn determination. Stupid determination, actually.

"Why?"

To this question, I finally raised my head to meet my eyes with his own. 

"Because I am in love with her." I said slowly, making sure I didn't beat him to a pulp for what he just said. Normally, I was good at controlling my anger, but right now, I wanted nothing more than to put Calin in his place.

"Vampires don't love." He told me.

"You have a soul mate. So do I. Mine is Sera. That is all." I said, calming down a little. 

"We'll just see about that." Calin replied and we stared at each other for a few moments, waiting to see who would back down first. It wasn't going to be me.

Suddenly, my mobile rang. I looked at the caller ID to see that Sera was calling. Why would she be calling? She could just come downstairs and talk to me. I answered, a little confused.

"By the time you get upstairs, she'll be gone." J.J. Giraldi's unmistakable voice said on the other end, and suddenly, I felt my stomach go completley sour as I comprehended his words. I heard him click off the phone, and then it was silent.

My reflexes starting instantly, I fled up to Sera's room, Calin close on my tail.

"What's going on?" He asked. I didn't answer him and slammed Sera's door open.

The window was open and a warm breeze wafted through, causing the curtains to flutter. I felt myself to go numb.

Sera was gone.


	22. Chapter 22

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 22 -No One Can Save You-

his chapter is coming out so early because I have got to work from 6:00 to 7:30 so I want to get it out before I work and not after. We're back to **Sera's Point of View**, obviously.

When I woke up, I didn't feel so great. Actually, "not so great" was way better than I was feeling. I felt completley sick to my stomach, but I had to try to put that out of my head. I didn't even know where I was.

I sat up, trying to ignore my nausea, and looked around. I was in a small room on a small bed, but it wasn't exactly the worst place I could be. It was completley wooden paneled and it sort of looked like a room out of the 18th century.

There were no windows and one door that I assumed was locked. Besides the bed, there was one lamp in the room and nothing else. I laid back down on the bed and sighed. This was the end. I was going to die.

The sound of a key scraping a lock startled me and I sat up abruptly as the door opened and J.J. Giraldi strode into the room, looking very pleased with himself. Behind I saw a long hallway...but not enough room or time to escape. Besides, even if I did manage to escape past him, I was sure we weren't alone...wherever we were.

"Ah! You're awake! I had hoped you would be." He told me cheerfully.

"Where am I?"I asked him ruefully.

"You are at my home, my dear." He answered, ignoring my tone.

"That doesn't exactly answer much, does it." I said bluntly. He laughed.

"You know as well as I do, I am not going to tell you where we are. But I will tell you what we are going to do with you." J.J. said, with a twinkle in his eye. I shuddered.

"I already know. You're going to kill me, and put my head up next to all of Julian's other ancestors." I said and he smirked evily to me.

"And although that _is _a very tempting possibilty, no. That was merely for scare. To get Julian 'riled up'. And it seemed to work. But no. We have something much bigger planned for you." He told me and I groaned.

"Would you please stop being so cryptic?" I answered, exasperated.

"My goodness. I didn't know I was being so offensive." He told me with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, you do have my life in your hands. I'd like to know what you plan on doing with it." I told him, annoyed. J.J. merely smiled.

"By now you know that we have created a drug that we can inject into our systems so an Illuminata and an Umbria can mate. But what you did not know is that drug was actually developed about 50 years ago, and I injected myself and a strong Illuminata with it. She bore me a son, who is now about 18 in human years. We call them the Umbriatas." J.J. informed me.

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked carefully, not exactly thrilled with where this story was going.

"An Umbriata is one of the strongest lycan species, and while not as strong as an Umbria, they are just as cunning as an Illuminata, but can change whenever they'd like. But we want to take it a step further. And that is where you come in, my dear." He explained. I stared at him, waiting for him to explain what was going to happen to me.

"We are going to combine an Umbriata and a vampire together. But we realized that we can really only try this if we have an exceptionally strong vampire. A vampire who has royal blood. _You_." He finished.

"Me?! What are you going to do with me?!" I almost screamed as it registered in my head.

"Nothing too greusome, I'm afraid. You simply are going to mate with my son." J.J. told me.

"MATE?!" I screamed that this time and J.J. covered his ears.

"Lower the decibles, please. You are my guest after all, and good guests always show good manners." He said, with a little annoyance in his voice.

"I'd have good manners if you didn't want me to _mate_ with your son! I'm not _mating _with anyone! I'm 18! And I'm engaged to Julian! I really don't think he'd appreciate it if I just...had some werewolf pup! And more than him not appreciating it, _I _wouldn't appreciate it!" I shouted to him.

"It's not exactly as if you have a choice." he answered.

"Actually I do. Because it's sort of a crime if you force me into it." I spat back.

"Well unfortuantley, there isn't one here who is going to save you." He smiled back at me, his razor sharp teeth glinting. It would have been intimidating, had I not my own set of fangs. But it was creepy, to say the least. There was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" asked J.J.

"Daniel. You called for me?" A masculine voice said. J.J.'s face lit up.

"Come in, my boy!" He said. I assumed this must be his son. Well, he did call him 'my boy'. Then again, he did call me 'my dear'. This guy was _weird_.

In stepped a gorgeous young man with brown hair and soft brown eyes. But to me, he was nothing compared to Julian. I just wanted to be out of here, and I wanted to be out of her now.

"Well, I let you two do your business." J.J. said evilly and quicker than lightning, left the room, closing the door and locking it behind us.

I turned to Daniel. We were now completley alone.


	23. Chapter 23

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 23 -You're Even Weirder Than Julian-**

Daniel looked boredly at me while I watched him, fear running through my veins. What was he going to do to me? If he tried to come onto me, I'd scream. I wouldn't let him do anything to me, I wasn't meek, I could kick him off.

...Even though he looked really strong.

"That man certainly has a passion for the dramatics." Daniel finally sighed, turning back to look at the now locked door. I stared at him, not wanting to say anything, not wanting to provoke him.

"Well you could at least tell me what I'm doing locked in a room with you." He said after a few moments in an apathetic tone.

"You mean uh, you don't know?" I whispered, feeling only slightly less afraid.

"Of course not. My father doesn't tell me anything. He knows that if he does, I just won't agree to it." Daniel replied, chewing on a fingernail.

"He um- wants us to mate." I told him and Daniel arched an eyebrow.

"Does he now?" he inquired and I nodded my head.

"Well isn't that nice. But no offence, vampires aren't exactly my cup of tea." Daniel replied, going to the door.

"Er, it's locked." I reminded him and he turned back to me with a mocking smirk.

"I'm surprised that your beloved fiancee never showed you some of his more interesting powers." He remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked but Daniel simply turned around and pushed on the door. It splintered off of it's hinges and was left hanging. Daniel never answered me and walked swiftly out of the door while I still sat on the bed.

Everyone here was so..._weird_! No wonder Julian didn't like the lycans! But I wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I got out off the bed and cautiously peeked out the door. No one was there. I walked out. The long hallway I had seen from when J.J. had opened the door before was even longer than I had imagined.

I came to a staircase and went down, wondering what was going on. Why would J.J. kidnap me, only to lock me in a room with his son who could push his way out of a locked door? Surely he couldn't be _that_ stupid.

And the whole fact that he thought I'd actually _mate_ with his son. Even if I wanted to, Daniel had made it pretty clear that he didn't like vampires. Of course, that was fine with me. I had no interest in getting yet another guy interested in me. It was already too confusing with Julian _and _Calin.

All of a sudden, the thought of them made me wonder where they were. They must know where the lycan's castle was, Mortimer had been spying here and J.J. knew where the vampire's castle was. Shouldn't Julian be coming to my rescue about now? What was taking so long?!

"Ah, there you are!" I heard behind me and turned around to see J.J. smiling cheerfully to me.

"You are really, _really _weird. Like, weirder than Julian, which is saying something." I told him. He laughed.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I would lock you in a room with a boy who can get out of it just as easily as turning the knob. I have to admit, that was just for scare. Daniel must have told you, I like doing things over the top." J.J. told me.

"Actually, I figured that one out for myself." I replied and he merely smiled.

"But here, I'll answer your other questions. First of all, yes, I really do plan on having you mate with my son. You see- here, why don't you take a walk with me down to the kitchen, and we'll get you something to eat, and I'll talk." J.J. said. I didn't trust him, but I was sort of hungry, I couldn't deny _that_.

"You must, by now, be farmiliar with prophecies. I believe that there was one made about you and your current intended?" He asked.

"How do you know about that?" I questioned.

"My dear, I know about everything that goes on within the vampire community. I make it my business to know." He replied.

"So do you know what my prophecy says?" I asked, hoping that maybe he'd tell me. I was pretty sure that this guy didn't exactly have any morals, so he wouldn't mind telling me.

"Unfortunatley, no. As much as I'd like to know that, I haven't been able to infiltrate the place they keep the prophecies."

"So why are you telling me about prophecies?" I asked.

"Well, what you _don't_ know is that lycans have prophecies as well. And there is a particular prophecy that I also know exists in the vampire world. It is that one day, a vampire of royal blood and a lycanthrope of royal blood are going to have a child, a hybrid. That particular child is going to be so powerful, it will either be able to bring peace or chaos to the worlds. And I must admit, a child like that, well, that would be very valuable on the side of the lycans." J.J. explained.

"Worlds?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, _worlds_. Earth, Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell are very _real_ places. And a child who could bring peace or chaos to the worlds could essentially take over either God's or Lucifer's position. Possibly even both, if they played their cards right." J.J. explained.

"Wait. Are you serious?" I asked, completley confused. J.J. smiled.

"Of course I'm serious. There is a catch, obviously, nothing can ever be hunky-dory, you know. The vampire and the lycanthrope must be soul mates." He explained.

"But Julian said that vampires don't have soul mates." I told J.J., who only smiled again.

"A new era is arriving. Vampires don't need to have soul mates, but they are going to start having them. Why? For this particular purpose. Eventually, there is going to be a vampire who finds a soul mate with a lycanthrope."

"So all vampires are going to have soul mates now?" I asked.

"Not all. Mainly just the royals. You, Julian and Calin have soul mates." He told me. I stared at him. "And here's the _real_ kicker. Both Julian _and _Calin think you are their soul mate!" He told me, laughing at this one. I stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was telling me.

Heaven and Hell existed. So did God and Lucifer. _But, why not!_ I thought sarcastically. Vampires and Lycanthropes did, why not biblical places! _Jeez_, this whole thing was getting crazier and crazier. Two months ago, all I was worried about was what college I was going to go to, if I was going to go to one at all. That was all over now. And now soul mates existed for the royal vampires. Meaning that JulianCalin and I had soul mates. And that both Julian andCalin believed I was their soul mate.

"And what about Daniel?" I asked, not even wanting to know the answer.

"I believe 100 that he is your soul mate."


	24. Chapter 24

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 24 -The First Demons Created-

"So you're saying that I have 3 soul mates?" I asked J.J. Bluntly, not exactly comprehending this whole thing.

"No, of course not." He replied as we got to the kitchen. "Now, what would you like?" He asked.

"Errr...I don't care. Anything." I said. "Will you explain then why Julian, Calin and Daniel are all my soul mates?" I asked.

"Well, only one of them is your soul mate. With lycans, when you look into each other eyes for the first time, your minds connect and your soul and life force bonds with each others. But since that didn't happen with Julian, Calin _or _Daniel, it will probably happen when something else happens, some other form of contact."

"So nobody cared to ask me if I _wanted_ all this to happen to me? They just decided that 3 people were going to be trying to win for my affections, one of the vampire king, one of a vampire prince and the other a lycanthrope who if I mate with will have a child that could take over the world? Didn't they think that I might actually just want a _normal_ life?" I asked to no one in particular while cooks in the kitchen were making me something.

J.J. led me to a table where we both sat. A cook came over and put a plate of spaghetti in front of me with a class of what could have been wine, but I knew was blood. At least he gave me blood. Unless lycans drank blood too. But all I knew about werewolves didn't include them drinking blood.

"It wasn't your choice. You've been destined for an extraordinary life since you were born. Your mother _was _Queen of the Vampires after all."

"Yeah. Thanks for reminding me." I told him, twirling my pasta. "So you just plan on keeping me here until you figure out how to see if I'm your son's soul mate?" I asked. J.J. simply nodded. "Aren't you worried about Julian and Calin trying to come, you know, _rescue_ me?" I asked.

"Of course I am. That's why we're in a place that no one knows about. We're not at the lycanthrope castle. We're simply at a manor that no one knows about. That's why I'm not worried about you escaping either. You'd get lost." He told me with a smile.

"So I don't understand. Are you good are you evil?" I asked. This question had been bothering me for the entire time I had been here. He was actually being pretty nice to me. But then he had been all 'it would be tempting to kill you' and that whole thing. So I was confused as can be.

"It all depends on how one looks at it. To vampires, we are evil. To lycanthropes, vampires are evil." He told me.

"So do you think I'm evil?" I asked. He looked at me carefully.

"No, I can't say that I do. I think Julian is evil, though." He replied.

"Why?" I questioned.

"He killed my brother." He responded solemnly.

"But you killed his parents." I told him.

"Because they killed mine." He answered.

"So this thing has just been going on forever? Vampires killing lycans and lycans killing vampires?" I asked. J.J. cracked a smile.

"Yes." he answered.

"Ugh. That's so dumb! So I'm guessing you killed my grandparents and all that when my mom was Queen?" I asked.

"Actually, when your mom was Queen, there was somewhat of a truce between vampires and lycans. But when she left, and the Courtier's took over, a huge massacre took place over about 30 years. But for 20 years it has been quiet. Until the vampires formally declare war on us. Then the killing will begin again, and you, my dear, I'm afraid will be right in the middle of it." He said to me.

"Why did a massacre start when my mother left?" I asked. J.J. smiled a little.

"That was actually my fault. I killed the first king out of anger." He said.

"Oh! So it's _your_ fault that the whole thing started?" I asked, catching him in a trap. J.J. smiled after he realized what I had done.

"I had my reasons." He told me.

"Yes, but then again, so did Julian when he killed your brother." I retorted. J.J. looked at me with an amused expression on his face.

"You are too smart for your own good." He told me. I shrugged with indifference.

"If Julian knew where I was, could he break me out? I mean, if you had to go against him for me, who would win?" I asked. "I'm not saying that you're not a good host, but if you can guess, I don't want to be here. I'm pretty sure, and when I say pretty sure, I mean 100 sure that I'm not your son's soul mate. And I really don't want to find out."

"Truthfully? Julian, most likely, unfortunatley." He replied. Wow, I was surprised he was honest.

"Why? Is really that much stronger than you?" I asked and J.J. grimaced.

"Julian is the reason we are doing all we can to perfect the Umbriatas. Julian is the first Courtier I have truly been afraid of. But don't feel too excited, if our army is strong enough, we can take him." He told me. I scoffed.

"I don't want to be rude here, but if you're scared of Julian, that's pretty sad. He's really not that frightening." I responded.

"Not many have seen Julian when he is truly angry. Not even Calin, his brother, understands the extent of Julian's powers. Julian himself only knows what his powers are, not where they come from. I only know of Julian's childhood because I watched him very, very carefully when he was growing up, and because I believe things the vampires do not." J.J. told me.

"Daniel was saying something about Julian's powers earlier. Do you mean like, magic power?" I asked.

"No. I believe that Lucifer gave all the first born royal vampires demonic powers, because vampires were the first demons he created." he replied.

"Oh yeah, that whole, God and Lucifer, Heaven and Hell are real thing. Right." I responded, not believing him at all. Vampires and Lycanthropes were just...freaks of nature. They _weren't_ demons from the underworld.

"You don't have to believe me, but it's true. You should ask Calin sometime." J.J. mused. I didn't have time to respond though, because at that moment, a huge explosion shook the manor.


	25. Chapter 25

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 25 -Don't Hurt Him-**

Faster than I had time to react to the explosion, J.J. arms were around my waist and he was holding me tighter than anything. I almost couldn't breathe. I had no idea what had made the explosion, but obvioulsy J.J. didn't like it.

The weirdest part of it was when I looked down at J.J.'s arms around me, I saw that his fingernails had grown out, like claws. It wasn't that weird because he was a lycan and I knew that, but it was weird because it was just odd seeing someone have fingernail-like claws.

J.J. dragged me through the kitchen and out a back door, and then we were in a long hallway. I was pretty sure I should be screaming, but I was too terrified. J.J.'s grip on me wasn't a safe grip, it was a grip that scared me.

"Don't even think about running away." A dangerously low, cold as ice voice said behind us. But as scary as the voice sounded, it warmed me right to the heart.

_Julian_.

J.J. turned around cautiously so I could see Julian. He was dressed impeccably, but his hair was completley mussed and his cheeks rosy. He looked out of breath and really, _really_ angry.

"Julian. I didn't think you'd find us so fast." J.J. said nonchalantly, but I could detect the fear in his voice.

"Let her go." Julian commanded, and I could feel J.J.'s grip on me loosten, just a little.

"I can't. I need her." He told Julian and I could see confusion in Julian's black as night eyes.

"What for?" He asked abruptly.

"I can't say." J.J. responded.

"Well, it doesn't matter because I'm going to rip you to shreds if you don't hand her over _right now_." Julian said, but J.J. didn't budge.

I stood here in the middle of this show-down, wondering what to do. If I was like the heroine's of all the books I had ever read, I would just stand helplessly in J.J.'s arms until Julian rescued me. But I _wasn't _helpless. So instead of just standing there, I lifted a leg and promptly foot my down right onto J.J.'s. I heard a loud thump and something of a crack.

I was pretty sure it hadn't hurt him much, but it did do exactly what I wanted it to do, loosten his grip on me just enough that I could struggle out of his arms. I ran like crazy to Julian, who caught me in his arms.

"Julian!" I heard behind Julian. Julian didn't react but I saw Calin running down the hallway.

"Calin!" I said, feeling a huge sense of relief wash through me. My fiance and his brother were here. I was safe. At least, I thought so.

"Sera. Go with Calin. I'll take care of J.J." Julian said to me. I looked back to J.J., who was watching me with pleading eyes. I turned back to Julian.

"No Julian. Don't hurt him." I said. I didn't want to be here, but J.J. hadn't hurt me and if Julian killed him like J.J. said he could, Daniel would be all over Julian and the cycle would continue. I didn't want that. And I couldn't do much, but I could do my part. Julian looked into my eyes, annoyance and confusion and reluctance running through them, but I looked at him back with determination. Finally, Julian looked up.

"You're lucky Sera pities you. Next time you won't have that sort of luck." He spat angrily. J.J. said nothing as Julian led me out of the house.

"Why did you explode it?" I asked, as we stepped through a hole that was right next to the door. Julian smiled evily as he held me close to him, an action that made blush.

"Just to piss him off." He told me.

"You were that angry that he took me? Because he didn't hurt me." I told him as got into the limo that was like, magically in front of the manor. I had no idea where we were, but apparantley they did.

"Sera. I am much angrier. I'm just containing it so you don't have to see me mad." He told me. Calin sighed and rolled his eyes.

"How did you know where I was?" I asked.

"J.J. didn't know that Mortimer, while he was spying on the castle, found the location to this place, their 'secret hideout' if you will." Calin explained.

"But really, Sera, are you all right?" Asked Julian. I sighed.

"I'm fine. He just wanted me to mate with his son, because he's convinced we're soul mates-" I started but was cut off by Julian's and Calin's shreiks of "WHAT?!"

"Yeah. Something about how Heaven and Hell exist and a vampire and a lycanthrope are supposed to be soul mates and have some kid or that can take over the universe or whatever." I said. Calin arched an eyebrow.

"He really told you that legend?" Julian asked.

"What legend? He only sort of explained it to me. It was confusing." I said.

"Well. There are many legends as to how vampires and lycanthropes were created and put on the Earth. One of those legends is that Heaven and Hell are real places and that God and Lucifer are real people. God created the angels, obviously and Lucifer created the demons. Apparantley, according to this legend, the vampires were the first demons, lycanthropes the second. Lucifer put us here to wreak havoc on the Earth, because he was pissed off at God for one thing or another." Julian explained.

"According to this legend, it says that Lucifer gave strong demonic powers to the vampires, especially the first born of any royal, because they were the first demons. This made them, in a sense, more powerful than the lycanthropes, and made it so they could reproduce without a soul mate, unless they drank too much of the blood of the human. Then, as you know, they would have to give up their vampirism and become a human. The legend says that God was so angry at Lucifer for doing this, but he couldn't really stop him. So what he did was curse the vampires and the lycanthropes, saying that they would live in rage and war with each other." Calin added on for Julian.

"But God also said that one day, a vampire would find itself a soul mate in a lycanthrope. But not just any vampire, a vampire of royal blood. He said that all the vampires of the world would know that that day was coming because royal vampires would start having soul mates. And that one day, _one day_, a vampire and lycanthrope would have a child who would be so strong, he could finally bring peace to the two species." Julian finished.

"But J.J. said that the child could bring peace _or _war?" I asked.

"Just an embelishment made by the lycans. No matter what the legend says that God says, they want to believe that there is a way they can be more powerful than the vampires." Julian told me.

"So...is this true? Because um...J.J. said that both of you think that I'm your soul mate." I said quietly. I caught the glares that Julian and Calin suddenly gave each other at that mention. Julian was tense beneath me.

"No. That legend isn't true. Believe me, J.J. is really, truly, just a madman. He looks congenial at first, but he is not." He said after awhile.

"But what about the soul mate thing?" I asked. "Do you really think that you're my soul mate?" I asked, looking from Julian to Calin. Calin still sat with tight fists and white knuckles.

"I...don't know." Julian answered after a long while.

"And the demonic powers?" I asked. At this, Julian laughed.

"It is true, I am much stronger than any other vampire, but I really don't think I have 'demonic' powers. Really, Sera, don't worry about that silly legend." He answered.

But I caught the dark look that Calin gave Julian that told me that they had reason to think differently. The only question was, what did they know? And why weren't they telling me?


	26. Chapter 26

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 26 -I'm Just Getting Started-**

Please enjoy this part!! Sorry, it's kind of short, it's sort of a filler. Even though I hate that word and it's not REALLY.

Thankfully the next few weeks at the palace were pretty quiet. I still hung around with Calin when Julian was busy working, but it didn't change my feelings about Julian, and Calin didn't do much more to try and steal me from Julian.

But what I wanted to know most was what Julian and Calin were hiding from me. I was determined to find out, no matter what it took. But I didn't want them to know that I was trying to find out.

I spent days on days in the library, trying to read more about the legend about vampires and lycans. There wasn't much more in the books, though. It was mostly what Calin and Julian had told me.

But I was convinced they knew more than they, or this book, were telling me. But I didn't want to ask them, for fear that they would just lie to me.

Incidentally, the wedding was coming up in just about a month. I hadn't heard much more from Devilica Badcliffe, which was good, but I didn't want to count my chickens before they hatched.

With good reason, too. Because one day something really bad happened that she had to do with.

Julian, Calin, Mortimer and I were at a function that Lilith was throwing (I had forced Julian and Calin into coming) for the Blood Bank Fund that the Vampire Court supported. I thought it was kind of amusing that the vampires supported a blood bank as their charity, but when I thought about it, I had no idea what _else _they would fund.

I was dancing with Julian, strangely getting better and better at the thing when I heard someone "ehem" on the mircrophone behind us.

We abruptly stopped dancing and turned to see who was speaking at the microphone. It was Lady Jocelyn Radcliffe, Angelica's mother. That woman was just as, if not more, evil than her daughter. She only cared about getting her daughter, and by default, _her_ into the palace.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I knew you all weren't expecting me to speak today, but I have something that I would like to announce." She said and I looked at Julian, who flashed me a confused look.

"We all know that Julian Courtier is a wonderful king. But his title was passed to his grandfather by the Her Royal Highness Queen Farelly, was also a fine ruler. But her family was passed the crown from the first king, Lord Dracula, as we all know. It has been said that Lord Dracula was the worst king, but it has also been said that he was the best. No matter what, he was the first king and the most notorious." She said.

"Where is she going with this one?" Julian muttered to me under his breath.

"No idea." I replied, looking across the room and catching Mercedes's eye. She had been dancing with Mortimer, but now she flashed me a totally confused look.

"There has been some new evidence showing that my family line is directly linked to King Dracula's. Which means that rightfully, Angelica should be the fiancee of King Julian." Lady Radcliffe said.

I didn't understand what she said at first, but then all the commotion started and it clicked in my head.

_Lady Radcliffe is trying to get Angelica with Julian. Lady Radcliffe just said that Angelica is the rightful fiancee to Julian. _**_My _**_Julian.___

I looked at Julian, who had a dark look on his face as we stood together, people bombarding us with questions from all sides. Apparantley they thought _we_ knew something about this, even though we obviously didn't. If we did, did they honestly thing we'd be getting married if Julian was supposed to be married to someone else?

No. I didn't believe it. There was just no way that Devilica Badcliffe could be seriously trying to take the crown and Julian away from me. The crown was one thing, honestly, it didn't matter, well, it did, but Julian? What would I do without Julian?

The realization that he might actually have to marry Angelica hit me hard. I didn't believe Lady Radcliffe's ridiculous claims, but what if they were true and Julian couldn't marry me? What would happen then?

I contemplated marrying Calin, but I knew that no one would ever, _ever _compare to Julian.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and was relieved to see Mercedes standing beside me.

"I can't believe she did that. She won't get away with it." She said darkly.

"It doesn't matter. They've already caused a stir. People'll be talking about it for weeks." Julian told her and Mercedes frowned.

"What happens if she truly is King Dracula's descent?" I asked, looking at Mercedes, but really wanting to know what Julian thought. Mercedes frowned.

"They've been looking for ties to Dracula's blood line for years. If she really is part of his family...it might not be good. I don't want to make you afraid or upset, but they weren't exactly happy when they found out that Julian's and yours parents had arranged a marriage between him and a half-vampire...they'd probably be willing to break the engagement..." Mercedes said softly, and I looked up to Julian, who was looking at her angrily.

"I'm not going to allow them to take Sera away from me." He said in a dangerous voice. A man tapped him on the back and he turned away from us to go talk to him.

"I don't want him to get married to her." I moaned miserably to Mercedes when we were alone. She smiled slyly.

"You love him, don't you?" She asked. I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah." I told her, it was the first time I had admitted it to anyone besides myself.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around, expecting Julian again. But this time, I only saw Angelica Radcliffe, smiling maliciously.

"I can't believe you did that, you little...!" I started, and almost brought my hand up to hit her, but thought better of it. I needed to contain my temper if I was going to win _this _battle.

Angelica only smiled eviler.

"If you think that was bad, trust me, you haven't seen anything yet. _I'm just getting started._" She said and gave us a wink and turned off.

I stood there, stunned and confused and thoroughly in need of a big hug from Julian, right about now.


	27. Chapter 27

**An Arranged Marriage To The Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me... [Chapter 27 -Julian or Calin?-**

I didn't get much sleep the next couple days, even by vampire standards. Not only were there tons of people at the palace talking to Julian and Calin about the whole Radcliffe thing, I could tell that Julian was tense about something besides that, which in return made _me _tense.

I didn't understand how Angelica Radcliffe could be able to destroy our relationship with one simple rumor, but apparantley, she was doing just that. I hadn't even seen Julianfor a day or so. He was locked up in his office, trying to figure things out with different people in the court, different people about the lycans and other things I wasn't even allowed to know.

Not being around him made me really lonely. I hadn't even realized how much I really, really loved him until I was alone without him. Calin kept me company, but he wasn't much of a help. He was usually silent when we were together.

One day I was sitting in the library with Calin when I sighed very, very loudly in annoyance, hoping that Calin would ask me what was wrong so I could rant.

He looked up to me with a concerned expression from the book he was reading.

"Are you all right?" He asked, just like I hoped he would have.

"Not really..." I sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" He questioned.

"I miss Julian." I said flatly, laying back down on the couch in the library. Calin's eyes went cold as he closed his book.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but there isn't much I can do. He's busy." He told me icily.

"What is he doing, anyway?" I asked, hoping to wrangle the truth from Calin.

"I'm really not allowed to tell." Calin replied and I huffed in annoyance.

"Please?" I asked.

"He's trying to figure out this whole big mess that Lady Radcliffe got him into." Calin retorted.

"Got us _both_ into, actually. I'm as much of a part of this as he is." I reminded him.

"Yes, but, if it's true, he's going to have to have Angelica as his Queen. And that would _not _be a good thing." Calin replied.

"Why? I mean, besides the obvious reasons." I asked. All I knew about Angelica Radcliffe was that she was a crown-stealing brat who would do anything to get her way...but was she actually evil?

"Well, for one thing, Julian and I don't, and have never, agree with her families politics. They are very...oppressive people. They believe in a strict class sytem between vampires, which really segregates the royals and lords and ladies from the 'regular' vampires. Right now we try to include them all, inviting them to balls, having them on the Vampire Court, et cetera. The Radcliffe's don't want that, they believe that they are superior because of their title. They also believe in looser hunting laws on humans. Right now, vampires need consent from a human to drink their blood. It doesn't hurt the human and they won't remember it afterwords, but the Radcliffe's believe that all humans should be allowed to be hunted, no consent. Which is completley ridiculous. And as much as I dislike Julian, we still grew up with the same beliefs." Calin explained.

"Ah, here's another question. You never really told me why you hate Julian so much. I mean, I know he's the King and you're not but..." I started and Calin looked at me severely.

"It really has nothing to do with him being King and me not being King. Truly, I am glad I was born the younger son, if only for the fact that I _don't _have to be King. What I dislike about Julian is the fact that he always got everything he wanted when he was younger. Our parents doted on him, and even though I was more popular with the children, people were still intrigued by Julian. It is true that the first born royal always is granted more strength, and Julian is no exception." Calin explained.

"But Julian said that you were wrong...he said that your parents didn't dote on him..." I said quietly, trying to defend my fiancee from his brother's attacks.

"Julian is spoiled. He has never known a want in his life. He has always had everything handed to him on a silver platter." Calin said.

"Like what?" I asked. He looked at me, his eyes smoldering with an emotion I couldn't read.

"Like you." He told me. I swallowed.

"Do you really believe I am your soul mate?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't." He replied.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. He sighed.

"It's the other thing that Julian is working on. When I left the palace, I was killed by lycanthropes and I actually went to Hell. It's a real place and Lucifer is a real person. But he couldn't keep me there because I hadn't met my soul mate yet, so I had to come back here. Which gave him reason to believe that that silly legend about the origin of vampires and lycanthropes may actually be true..." Calin said.

"So does that mean I could actually be the soul mate of that lycan? And that I could have a werewolf baby?" I asked increduously. Calin's mouth twitched up.

"No, of course not. Like I said, you're _my _soul mate." He told me.

"How do you know?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I don't. I'm simply working on trying to figure out the way to reveal a soul mate. So we can do that, and then our minds and souls will be connected. Like what happens when a vampire drinks too much of a humans blood, or a lycan looks into the eyes of another lycan." He responded.

"Do you think you might have to drink my blood?" I asked, shuddering. Calin smiled, his fangs glinting in the sun.

"I don't know, would you like to find out?" He asked.

"No, thanks. Really, I'm all set." I replied with a frown.

"Honestly Sera, you are the least vampire like vampire I have ever met." Calin responded with a laugh.

"That's because I'm only a _half_-vampire, so I've been human for most of my life." I said with a small smile.

Suddenly, Julian burst into the library with a triumphant smile on his face. But I could see the fear and anxiety in his eyes.

"I figured out how to find out if two vampires are soul mates or not." He said in a loud voice.

Calin and I went completley silent as Julian, Calin and I stood in the room together after Julian had made his announcement.

It was then I realized something. This was what it was all leading up to. The moment of truth.

The only question was this: Who was my soul mate? Julian or Calin?


	28. Chapter 28

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 28 -You're My Soul Mate-**

**By the way:**

** Please, please, please don't give away any specifics about who Sera's soul mate is on my reviews!! I'd like to keep it somewhat of a surprise for the people who haven't read it yet. But you can message me about it all you want!**

We stood anxious in the library, waiting for Julian to explain how to find out which one of them was my soul mate.

"How?" Calin asked, clearly on edge. Julian smiled a little.

"Don't you want to know how I found out?" He asked.

"No!" Calin growled but I figured Julian wanted to tell us.

"Make it quick, Jules, please? This is killing me." I told him and he smiled gently to me.

"I was actually doing some research on Dracula when I came across it. Apparantley when he was alive, he fully believed the legend about Heaven and Hell and all that. He experimented about finding out what happened to vampires when they did certain things, trying to figure out if he could see how vampires connected their minds to each other. And he found it." Julian explained.

"And HOW, _exactly_?" Calin said roughly. Julian sighed with a smirk, clearly enjoying the agitation this was causing his little brother.

"Funny how one simple thing can make such an impact..." He said.

"You're getting on my nerves, Julian. How do you do it?!" Calin exclaimed. Julian smiled calmly.

"All it is is a simple _kiss_."

The realization hit me full on as I looked to Calin, whose face was distorting in devastation as he realized as well what this meant.

"No." He whispered.

"Calin..." I said softly. Julian didn't know that Calin had kissed me the first night he had come. And that meant that Calin wasn't my soul mate. Relief ran through me. But Julian was catching on and his face turned dark.

"You...kissed...her?" He asked slowly, and I could tell that he was losing his temper.

"The first night. It was before I knew her, before I fell in love with her." Calin tried to reason, but this only made Julian angrier.

"What makes you think that you had _any_ right to touch my fiancee?" He asked, his voice dangerously low. Calin's eyes suddenly filled with anger.

"She's only your fiancee because your parents arranged it! If they hadn't, she'd be a normal person living a semi-normal life. So yeah, she'd be a half-vampire, but she wouldn't be involved in all of your antics, all of this..._stuff _that you get yourself into!" Calin retorted.

"That isn't my fault!" Julian bellowed back.

"Like hell it isn't! Whose fault is it?! Julian, you are too blind to see the pain you cause everyone around you because you're so freaking selfish! You've always gotten everything you've ever wanted and now you have Sera! The one thing I wanted, I couldn't even have her! And it's not fair because you're going to make her live a dangerous life, just because you got her, and you're king and everyone loves you so much, they all want you, want to _be _you!" Calin yelled back. Julian laughed a cold, angry laugh.

"So this is what it's about, hm? The little brother is jealous of the big brother? Because the little brother is convinced that the big brother had a perfect childhood?" He asked.

"Didn't you?! Everyone was always so intrigued by you, even though I was friendlier, even though I was nicer, everyone always loved you better. And mother and father! They gave you everything you ever wante-" Calin started but was cut off by Julian darting forward with incredible speed and grabbing his collar and picking him up off the floor. He glared at Calin with the angriest expression I had ever seen before. It honestly scared me to death.

"Do you WANT to see the scars father and mother gave me?! They didn't give me a perfect childhood, they beat me so I would become the greatest, strongest, most powerful king ever! _You _were the lucky one, Calin, only _you_ were too selfish to realize it! Everyday they hurt me while they left you alone. Why do you think I was quiet, why do you think I distanced myself from you?! I only wanted you to have a good childhood, the one I couldn't! And you still are the most selfish person I know!" Julian screamed at Calin, completley losing his temper.

Calin went silent as Julian breathed heavily, still holding him up.

This had started about me, but it had escalated to the point where it was something completley different. But I could still stop it. I walked up behind Julian and put my arms around his waist. It must have made him snap out of it because he set Calin down and turned around on me.

"Sera...I love you." He said quietly. My heart fluttered.

"I love you too." I whispered and he leaned his head down and I leaned mine up and he kissed me so softly, but there was an explosion in my head.

I could feel a physical tugging as we continued to kiss. Suddenly, for one moment, all of Julian's memories past by my eyes and I saw and felt all the struggle, pain and heartbreak that he had gone through. The struggle to be accepted. And for one moment, I could swear I felt our souls literally connect.

We finally were able to part and I looked at him.

_You're my soul mate._ Julian said in my head, only I heard it as clear as a bell.

_And you're mine._ I sad back to him and he smiled and embraced me closely.

"No...no..." Calin said behind us. I turned around to see his grief-stricken face. "Why did I come back, was it just to be mocked? No, this can't be...Sera...please..." He trailed off. Sadness suddenly took hold of my heart and I reached out towards him, but he pulled back.

"No..." He said once more softly before fleeing the room. I looked at Julian who ran after him.

After a few moments, Julians voice came into my head. _He's gone..._ He said softly and I felt the tears drip through my eyes.

I had never wanted to hurt him...


	29. Chapter 29

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 29 -Like My Angel-

**Thanks for the messages about the last part! Whether you were happy or not that Julian was Sera's soul mate, it had been planned since the beginning...but that doesn't mean Calin's story ends. This is his story, and it will be told every other chapter. Please enjoy!!****  
****  
****Calin's Point of View:******

I had no clue where I was going or why I was going so fast. All I knew is that I kept running long after I lost breath, long after I had become too tired to run. I wanted to be away from that place that I had been.

Why had I gone back?

At first, just to make Julian mad while I searched for my soul mate. Then I thought I had found her. I had been so sure, I had loved Sera so much, I would have done anything for her! But...Julian got her. Julian. _**Always got everything**___

But according to him, he didn't. According to him he would have rather been me. Did I believe his story about being hurt, being beaten into being the best king ever? I kept saying no, that it wasn't true and that he was trying to make me feel better but Julian's father had been my father too...and I had seen him everyday until he died. And a small, inner part of me was not surprised that he had hurt Julian. His own flesh and blood. Just for _**power**_

I was torn between feeling regret for all the years of being mean to Julian and anger for him getting Sera. I hadn't even realized it when I had fallen in love with her, I had no idea when it happened. But I think it was after I kissed her that first time...that one, sweet kiss...that one kiss that meant that she _**wasn't**_mine, that she was _**his**___

I contemplated turning myself over to the lycanthropes. J.J. would have the pleasure of killing me personally. He would like that. Maybe I wasn't the most powerful vampire, but I was still a royal thorn in his side. But if Lucifer was right, I would just have to endure the pain of hell once again before getting sent back, again.

I wasn't sure which was worse. The physical pain of hell or the emotional pain of losing Sera. But you can't lose what you never had...

I slowly felt myself weakening and finally, I collapsed somewhere with the roots and leaves underneath me, hoping that I would just be taken away to sweet peace...

I woke up surprisingly warm. My eyes blinked back sleepiness as I tried to look at my surroundings, my head pounded. I realized that I was under a bunch of blankets in a warm room, where a fire blazed in the corner. I tried to sit up but then laid back down when I felt my head spinning.

But I did notice that I wasn't alone in the room.

"Where am I?" I asked whoever it was in my room. All I saw was a blue blur. And then I saw a girl leaning over me, smiling at me with two glinting fangs in her teeth. I groaned.

"Not more vampires..." I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Heeeey, you could at least thank me for saving you." She told me in a distinctivley scottish accent and I groaned again, not answering her. "Fine. Don't say thank you." She said, kind of annoyed.

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want saving?" I asked her, in what I knew was a rude way.

"Why would you be collapsed in my backyard if you didn't?" She asked and I opened my eyes. She was still bent over me, but this time she was placing a cool cloth on my forehead. I glared at her, but it surprisingly felt really good on my pounding skull.

"Exuse me. I'll watch where I collapse next time." I said gruffly and she giggled. She had long, wavy white blonde hair and blue eyes. Oddly enough, she was beautiful to me. Which made her even more annoying. I had to get out of here soon.

"Why did you collapse anyway?" She questioned and I sighed, thinking of Sera and Julian. I wasn't supposed to be a part of that life anyway. I was just the insignificant little brother. I didn't matter. I had no real purpose there. It was bettter that I was gone. I didn't answer her, she didn't need or want to know about my past. I didn't need her to know anyway. The less people that knew me, the less I could get hurt.

Because in the end, I always did.

"Well, to answer your first question, even though you won't answer mine, you're in my house. Which is in Scotland. Which I can tell you're not from because of your accent. So you've come a long way. And my name is Evangeline." She told me and I smirked.

"So you're like my angel?" I mused and I saw her blush.

"Well, I mean, uh, no, I mean, unless you uh, want to...think...that..." She answered, flustered. I smirked harder. She was so cute like this. But then my smirk fell. I couldn't think that. If I got to know her, she'd end up hurting me. I had to leave here.

"Aren't you going to tell me who you are?" She asked.

"It's better that you don't know." I told her, annoyed. And it was better that she didn't know, anyway. Even if I wanted her to know me, it was better that she didn't. People who knew me always ended up getting involved with the lycans and J.J. and I wasn't as selfish as Julian. I wouldn't harm innocent people. Evangeline pouted.

"You're going to have to tell me eventually." She said.

"I'm leaving here as soon as you get off the bed and I can move." I told her and she laughed.

"No, you're not." She told me.

"Why aren't I?" I asked, eyeing her carefully. She was another one of those vampires. The ones working for the lycanthropes. She was here to get information off of me. I just knew it. She had trapped me, and now I was her prisoner. What if she tortured me, what if-

"Because if you leave, you'll just collapse again. Trust me, I know this kind of thing. You're too weak to go anywhere. I don't know who you are or where you came from, but running that much doesn't do anyone any good. So just lay back down and get some rest. I'll be around if you get hungry." She said and smiled, taking the cool cloth off my forehead.

I lay in stunned silence. No one had ever bothered to care about me. Why was Evangeline different?


	30. Chapter 30

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 30 -Congratulations-

**Sera's Point of View**:

I hated knowing that I had hurt Calin, but it wasn't my fault, really. I couldn't decide who I was soul mates with, and most of all, I couldn't decide who I loved. Calin was a such a good friend to me, and it wasn't as if he wasn't attractive enough for me, or anything. I just had fallen in love with Julian.

The day after Calin ran away, Lilith came back to the castle. It was exactly a month to our wedding, and she was here to plan it all. I was glad for that because I didn't know anything about weddings.

My parents were also coming, my mom was supposed to help Lilith planning the wedding. I was so excited about seeing them, I hadn't seen them since I had left for England.

I also wanted to talk to my mom...I think she probably knew some more about the whole legend thing, which I was starting to believe was true. So I wanted her to tell me.

I could tell that Lilith was back by the huge amount of suitcases that were in the foyer. I smiled when I saw them. Lilith had been the one to make me feel not so akward when I had first come. She would be surprised to know that Julian and I had found out we were each other's soul mates. Nobody except Mortimer, and of course, Calin, knew that Julian and I were each other's soul mates yet.

She flourished into the foyer with the biggest grand entrance I had ever seen and called out to everyone in the palace, "_I'm HERE!_" and we came down at once to greet her.

Julian and I had stayed in seperate rooms the night before. But he had kissed me on the lips before we had gone our different ways and it had been amazing, again.

_Is Lilith here_? Julian asked in my head. It was still a little weird, how we could talk to each other in our heads.

_Oh yeah._ I answered in an amused tone.

Julian came down the stairs and met me in the foyer, while Lilith returned from outside with one more bag.

"Oh my goodness! There you are, let me have hugs!" She said, obviously happy that we weren't dead, or mutilated or anything like that. We both gave her a hug, before Julian pulled back and looked at her very seriously.

"Sera and I are soul mates." He said and a smile broke out over Lilith's face.

"I knew it! Oh good!" She said and gave us more hugs.

"How did you know?" I asked, remembering the time that she had told us that we had looked 'made for each other', which I hadn't understood until now.

"Well, the only people that are allowed to read a prophecy about a vampire are that vampire's parents, but I had an inkling about what the prophecy was about." She told me.

"Oh my gosh, the prophecy! I had forgotten! What is it about?" I asked.

"It's that you and Julian are the first vampire soul mates." She said. "Or at least, I'm 99 sure that's it. I mean, what else could it be?" She asked.

"Calin left when he found out." Julian said quietly to Lilith, who frowned. It had been fairly big news that Calin Courtier had come to the palace, and no one had really known why, except Julian, Mortimer and I.

"Why?" She asked.

"He died and went to Hell. Lucifer told him that he had to come back because he had a soul mate. He thought that his soul mate was Sera. He didn't like finding out that she wasn't it." Julian explained.

"He...what?" She asked, obviously confused.

"That's what I said too when I found out. He died. So it means that the legend could be true. Especially with the whole soul mate thing." Julian replied and Lilith laughed.

"Honestly, that's just crazy. What if he lied, just to lead you off track?" She asked.

"Would he do that?" I interjected. Julian stared at me, his features twisted.

"He might lie to me, but I don't think he'd ever lie to you. I could see his love for you in his eyes. I think he was telling the truth." He explained and it only succeeded in making me feel even more guilty about what had happened.

"Well, I'm going to go start coordinating the wedding. We only have a month before it, you know!" She said and I smiled and leaned into Julian.

"Yep." I said and she flourished off, clacking her way down the hall.

"I never got to say this properly, but I'm sorry about Calin." Julian told me when Lilith was gone. I looked up at him.

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked and Julian sighed.

"I don't know. I feel like I should." He told me. I smiled and shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault about what happened." I told him.

"That doesn't mean I don't feel badly about it." He replied and I put my arms around his waist.

"I know what you mean." I told him. He kissed the top of my head.

"I hope you don't mind, but I've got to go talk to Mortimer about an attack on the lycanthropes. We're officially declaring war on them in a week, so we've got to make sure everything is ready when we do." Julian said and I sighed.

"You know how I feel about this fighting..." I told him.

"Yes, I do. But just because J.J. showed you that small amount of kindness doesn't mean that he wouldn't jump at a chance to kill you, just to anger me." Julian replied.

"Jules.." I trailed off, in a sort-of whine. Julian laughed and kissed my lips quickly.

"You just worry about what kind of cake we're going to have at our wedding. I don't want you worrying about the lycanthropes. Unfortunatley, they can fight for themselves." He told me and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. But I still don't like it." I told him and started upstairs, to change. I heard him laugh behind me and walk off towards his office.

_I love you, _said Julian's clear voice in my head. I sighed and smiled.

_I love you too_. I replied and went into my room and jumped in fright when I saw that J.J. was sitting on my bed, reading a book from my shelf.

"What are you doing here?" I screeched. Friendly or not, this man still scared the living bejesus out of me. He met his merry eyes up with mine and laughed.

"Just wanted to offer you my congratulations." He told me.

"Uh. Thanks?" I replied. "You seriously couldn't have come here for _just _that." I added on and J.J. laughed again.

"You've got me. No, I didn't." He replied.

"Are you going to kidnap me again?" I asked.

"Not quite yet." He told me.

"So what's up?" I asked, feeling kind of on edge.

"I just needed to convey a message to Julian, but I didn't feel like writing a note. It's hard to not be seen during the day if I go anywhere near his office, so I figured I'd just tell you to tell him." J.J. told me.

"Okay..." I answered.

"Just tell Julian that we're ready for his army." J.J. said.

"I don't think that's going to frighten him." I replied and J.J. smiled.

"Maybe not, but if you tell him that I told you directly, he won't like that." He said and got off my bed to go out the window, which I now realized had been open the entire time.

"Wait!" I called after him as he was getting out. J.J. stopped and looked at me. "Julian is my soul mate. Calin says he died and went to Hell. So I think you're right about the legend. I think it might be true." I replied and J.J. smiled an evil smile.

"Which means that this is only the beginning."


	31. Chapter 31

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 31 -Everything Will Be Fine-**

It's Julian's perspective, as always. Next one will be in Calin's perspective, just to let you know.

**Julian's Point Of View:******

Lilith, Mortimer and I sat in my office while my future wife was upstairs. Sera didn't need to know about this secret meeting. Besides, she wouldn't want to know about us discussing the possibilit of the legend being true.

"So, why don't you two explain to me again what happened with Calin?" Lilith asked and I sighed.

"He came back saying that when he left, he was attacked by a group of lycans and was killed. Now, normally, I would be sure that this wouldn't happen, Calin may not be me, but he is a royal, which means he has hugely powerful powers. So it wouldn't usually be hard for him to fight off a pack of lycnas. But I'm pretty sure he was probably feeling pretty upset because of what had just happened-" I started.

"And when Jules says that, he means the night when his father was killed by J.J. and what he said to Jules and all that." Mortimer added.

"Oh yes. What did he say to you again?" Lilith asked, resting her chin in her palm as she sat on my desk.

"He told me that I was going to be the best and most powerful ruler and he was so proud to have me as a son. He never said anything to Calin, which I think killed him." I reminded her and she nodded.

"But of course, what we know about Jules's and his dad's relationship-" Mortimer started but Lilith cut him off with a glare.

"I _was _his sister. I think I know much more about him than you ever will." She reminded him and I was thankful for her right then. Talking about my father always brought back unecessary angry memories.

"So, what are we going to do about Calin?" Mortimer asked us both and I looked at Lilith.

"I was thinking about sending out a search team to go look for him." I reply slowly, trying to think about this option.

I didn't get along with Calin, no. But having him here would sure help me a lot with the lycans. One royal vampire was good, but two was practically unbeatable. There was no question why J.J. had given Sera up to me so easily when we had gotten into his house.

_Sera_...how would she take it if Calin were back? And how would Calin react? Would he try to take Sera from me, again?

No. Sera was my soul mate. If I wanted to, I could call to her in my head. I could hear her and I could feel her, we were totally and completley connected.

Which was a scary thought. If I died, so would she. I had so much responsibility placed on my shoulders now, but I would do whatever it took to protect Sera. Even if it meant protecting myself first.

But would Calin come back as long as he loved Sera? I didn't know. Could he sacrifice his love for her to help me?

No. He had never liked me anyway, he had always thought I was spoiled and selfish. And with getting Sera, he probably was a little right. I hadn't needed to work for her affections or anything.

"Hey, Lil. Why is it that Sera fell in love with me, not Calin? Couldn't she easily be my soul mate and not love me?" I asked and Lilith sighed.

"Not really. I know lycans can resist soul mates for some time, but it's fate. They're bound to fall in love. That's why Sera fell in love with you. Besides the fact that she knew you longer, you _were _technically made for each other. So even if she hadn't loved you when you had kissed her, she would have eventually fallen in love with you. It's just how it works." She explained and I smiled a little. This meant that when Calin found his soul mate, he would eventually fall in love with her.

Maybe he'd come back after that. But who knew how long it'd be until he found his soul mate. He was immortal after all, maybe he'd never find her and just walk the earth in his misery.

_That _was a pleasant thought.

"So, the legend." Mortimer said suddenly, bringing our attention back to the reason we had had the meeting in the first place.

"Hey, do you think that the legend could have something to do with our prophecy?" I asked them. Lilith considered it.

"It might say something, especially since the legend said that there would be a lycanthrope and a vampire soul mate once vampire royals started having soul mates. And from what I know, your prophecy said that you guys were supposed to be the first vampire soul mates. So I guess it would make sense." She explained.

"So why don't you know what it says, exactly?" Mortimer asked and Lilith sighed.

"Only the parents of the subjects of the prophecy are really allowed to know. Julian's mom broke the code by telling me that it was about him finding a soul mate with Queen Farelly's daughter. That was all I could find out, and that was just because she wasn't sure if they'd make it until her 18th birthday and wanted me to make sure that Julian would go through with the arranged marriage." She explained and I laughed, remembering how opposed I had been to the arranged marriage when Lilith had first told me.

"Well, I'm glad you forced me into it." I smiled and Lilith grinned back.

"I knew you would be."

"How do we find out if the prophecy has something to do with the legend?" Mortimer asked.

"Well, since it came true, I think we can probably ask Sera's mom when they come for the wedding." Lilith replied and I sat, thinking.

"Hmm...if the legend is true, shouldn't that mean that Sera has the powerful demonic powers, not me? Because she is _technically _the rightful heir to the throne?" I asked.

"No...the throne has passed through different families for one reason or another. If these so-called powers really existed, they would have been given to you, just like your father had them. If they were real, of course." Lilith said and I shrugged.

"Sounds a bit unfair to me." I said.

"Who said life was fair?" Mortimer mused and I flashed him a smirk. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Lilith asked.

"Sera." Came Sera's voice from the other side. My heart sped up and I smiled warmly and got up and opened the door for her. She stood there looking beautiful as she had the last time I had seen her, only about 20 minutes ago. I leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips.

_What's wrong? Why are you having a meeting in here?_ She asked.

_Just discussing some wedding details_. I replied smoothly.

_Is everything okay? Am I going to have to do some kind of weird ritual? _She asked and I laughed out loud.

"Hey! Don't start talking in your head while we're here! We wanna know what you're saying!" Mortimer protested and Sera laughed.

"There is an actual reason why I came to find you, Jules." She told me and I raised my eyebrows.

"Are you okay?" I asked and she sighed and nodded.

"I have a message to you." She said slowly.

"What?" I asked.

"From J.J. He was in my room." She explained, meeting her eyes with mine. I instantly tensed.

_Are you okay?_ I asked her in my mind.

"I'm fine." She answered out loud. "He wanted me to tell you that he's ready for your army." She said.

I laughed and turned to Lilith, who was smiling complacently and Mortimer, who was smirking.

"What?! You guys totally know something I don't!" She exclaimed and I laughed and turned back to her and kissed her head.

"Don't worry. That was just a scare tactic. He couldn't be ready for our army if he prepared for years." I told her with a content smile. _Lycans_. They were so stupid.

"Are you sure?" She asked, her big eyes blinking up at me with obvious worry. I sighed and put a hand on her cheek.

"I'm just as sure about that as I am sure of my love for you." I told her with a smile. She broke out into a smile.

"Trust me. Everything is going to be fine." I told her.

But of course, not even _I _could see the future...


	32. Chapter 32

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 32 -I Should Go...-**

**Calin's Point Of View**:

I quickly learned that Evangeline was clumsy. I had no idea how she had been able to take care of me when I was passed out, she tripped and fell _all _the time. But even I had to admit, she was very amusing.

I had been able to quickly regain some of my strength so that I could move around a little. I found this extremley useful in making sure that Evangeline didn't drop things, or trip over the stairs or anything like that. 

The next 2 days were some of the funniest I had ever spent in my entire life. Making sure Evangeline didn't hurt herself and playing somewhat of a hero when she did.

At lunch time one day I was sitting downstairs on her couch, flipping through a magazine, when she entered carrying two steaming bowls of soup. I looked up and instantly saw a disaster waiting to happen and went over and picked up the bowls and set them down on the coffeetable. She smiled in thanks and sat down.

"Honestly, how did you get along here without me?" I asked with a small smirk. She blushed in response.

"I really have no clue. I guess I just got used to spilling and tripping and stuff. But now that you're here, I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore!" She told me, giggling. I tensed up.

I had to leave soon. I wasn't sure where I was going, but one thing was for certain, I couldn't stay here. I couldn't endanger Evangeline by staying, it wasn't right. Besides, Julian probably had people looking for me. Now that he was in the war with the lycans, he probably wanted, no _needed _my help. Help that I didn't plan on giving him. He had taken Sera away from me...

But when I thought about Sera right now, it didn't hurt as much. And for a brief moment, I considered going back to Julian. For a second, it was like Sera didn't matter anymore because now I was with...

_No._ I had to leave.

But what was Evangeline going to do without me? I had become so freakishly attatched to her in the past two days, and she said that she needed me, depended on me to care for her!

I'd stay a couple more days, _then _I'd leave.

"Sooo...I was thinking...do you think that maybe you could at least tell me your first name? Because I'm getting sort of tired of just calling you 'You'." Evangeline said, with a lopsided smile. I sighed and looked at her.

"My name is Calin." I told her feeling a little rude for not having told her earlier. She had been taking care of me, I should be in full debt to her right now.

"And uh- why is it that when you saw that I was a vampire, you said 'not more vamires'? Just wondering." She asked and I looked at her closely.

"I've just had my fill of vampires for awhile. I was planning on being alone for the rest of my ridiculously long existance." I admitted and she smiled widely.

"I can't say that I'm not happy to hear that I foiled those plans. Being alone...it's not good..." She said almost wearily, as if she knew loneliness all too well. That's when it hit me. For the past two days, I hadn't seen anyone here except her. Maybe she had been alone all of her life.

"Where is your family?" I asked her and she averted her eyes away. "Come on, I told you my name and why I said 'not more vampires'...you're going to have to tell me sometime." I added.

"They were executed by the former king of the vampires...he thought they had committed treason." She told me and I cringed. My dad would certainly do that, but now there was no way I could tell her that I was the prince of the vampires.

"I'm very sorry to hear that." I told her and she shrugged.

"It's okay. I just hate the vampiryc government for it. The new king is powerful, yes, but he's getting us into an uneeded war with the lycanthropes. And from what I hear, his brother is a huge jerk." She told me with a smile. I cringed even harder.

"Yes well, I'm sure _King _Julian has his reasons for going into war." I said, surprised that I was defending the very bane of my existance. "And I've met his brother, he is not such a bad guy." I defended myself now, too, for obvious reasons. Evangeline smiled.

"Well, I can't say that I agree, but if you like him, it must be worth something, _right_?" She asked and I smiled shakily.

"Thank you." I responded.

Suddenly, my mobile rang. I had forgotten to leave it at the castle, and kept it with me out of habit. It hadn't rung these past few days, and now it's noise made me jump. It made Evangeline jump too. I frowned as I pulled it out, it was Lilith calling.

"You know, you can't go wandering around alone for the rest of your existance if you have people calling you all the time." She pointed out with a grin. I smiled sheepishly and answered the phone.

"Hello, Lil." I said into the ear piece.

"CALIN?! OH Calin I thought you wouldn't pick up! Thank god- Julian, _Julian_ he answered!" She screeched into the phone and I winced, standing up. I didn't want to run the risk of Evangeline hearing this conversation.

"Yes, it's me. Yes, I'm all right and no, I'm not coming back. To answer the questions I know you want to ask." I said and I heard her sigh on the other end in response. She was silent though, stubborn as always. "Do you think, I could talk to Sera?" I asked quietly. I just wanted to make sure that she was all right, that she was happy with Julian.

"Fine. But don't harass her, she doesn't deserve it." Lilith said and I frowned in annoyance.

"I wouldn't." I answered and Lilith gave Sera, who I assumed was right around when Lilith had called, the phone.

"Hi Calin." I heard her soft, sweet voice on the other end. My heart, oddly enough, didn't hurt as much though.

"Are you all right? Is Jules treating you well? Has anything bad happened to you?" I asked, feeling sort of dad-ish to her.

"Yes, yes, and no. I'm _fine_, I promise. Here's my question though, are _you _okay?" She asked and I sighed, considering this one. I looked over at Evangeline, who smiled at me beautifully.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm good, actually." I said, surprising myself by smiling a little.

"Glad to hear it. Well, I'll let you go. But uh, I know this doesn't count for much, but I would really like it if you came back. Jules's is busy a lot, I would like someone to talk to. But I can understand if you can't..." She trailed off and I sighed.

"I don't really know right now, okay? Let me just see..." I said.

"All right. You take care of yourself now." She told me and I nodded in response.

"Bye." I said.

"Bye." She replied and I clicked off and put the phone back into my pocket and looked at Evangeline.

"People from your past?" She asked, with a smile on her face, but I could tell something was troubling her.

"Yes, but I don't plan on returing to them anytime soon." I said and the worry melted right out of her, it was plain to see.

"Good, because I don't know what I'm going to do if you leave." She said with a smile. "I uh mean- I need someone to save me now. Haha." She said, with a nervous laugh and I smiled softly.

I should go, I really should. But something inside was telling me to stay. I think it was my broken and sorely abused heart.


	33. Chapter 33

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 33 -Uh-Oh-**

And now for Sera's part, finally!! Also, I know this one is pretty short, sorry!! It just sort of happened that way, but I tried to leave it with a good indication of what's going to happen next in Sera's part. By the way, I think you're going to like the next one!!

**Sera's Point Of View:******

With all the excitment about Julian and I being soul mates, Calin leaving the castle, Lilith coming back to plan the wedding, my _parents _coming to the castle to help plan the wedding, I had totally forgotten that there might not even actually _be _a wedding.

Devilica Badcliffe was still convinced that she was the descendant of Dracula, and if she was, she was the 'rightful' fiancee of Julian, no matter if I was his soul mate or not. I had no idea how she could do this, if Julian and I were destined for each other and all that, but Julian said that if the Vampire Court decided that Devilica was my rightful fiance, he would have to marry her and I would have to go. And Julian was on edge because as he had said before, the Vampire Court didn't like him much.

All in all, I didn't have a great feeling about all this.

I was, however, excited to see my parents. I hadn't seen them since I had left and it had been a little more than 2 months now.

The day my parents came, it was a huge deal. The Vampire Court came along with many of the ladies and lords. Mercedes was there, which was nice, she helped me ignore Devilica's smug glances to me. Even though I still hated them. If that little brat thought she was going to steal _my _fiance, she had another thing coming!

I was planning on asking my mom if she could do anything about the situation, especially since she had once been the Queen and all that, but who knew if she could do anything, seeing as she wasn't queen anymore.

I stood with Mercedes, Julian and Mortimer as we waited for the Limo to pull up to reveal my parents. And while everyone here was just excited to see my mom, I was equally as excited to see my dad. I missed them both so much. I even sort missed how my mom screeched 'Seraphina' when I was in my room.

_Sort of_.

As the limo drove up the long driveway, Everyone around me starting clapping and cheering. Jeeeeeez, I hadn't known my mom was so popular here. That thought made me feel kind of intimidated.

I looked over to Devilica and she was glaring at the approaching car. I could see it in her eyes that she did _not _like my mom. I huffed. Fine. Don't like me all you want, but don't glare at my _mom _like it's her fault. She had done absolutley nothing to Devilica and already Devilica was acting bratty.

The limo stopped in front of the castle where we were all perched and Mr. Van came out and went to the side of the limo and my mom stepped out. She gave a graceful wave to everyone, but when she caught sight of me, she ran to me and gave me a big hug.

There were shouts and murmurs of "awe" and everyone clapped. My dad soon joined this little family reunion and soon, I could feel myself become embarassed from all the attention I was recieving.

My mom and dad pulled back from me and smiled at me proudly.

"Aren't you happy we forced you into this now?" my dad asked jokingly. I blushed.

"Yeah, I guess so." I mumbled and my mom laughed and gave me another hug. Then she pulled away and turned to Julian.

"You were so much smaller the last time I saw you! You've gotten so big! Here now, don't be shy, give me a hug." she said jovially and pulled Julian into an almost akward embrace. Julian was blushing pink but hugged her back. I laughed at his apparent embarassment.

"I can't believe you knew we were soul mates but you never told us!" I said when my mom pulled away from Julian. She rolled her eyes in a mom-like fashion.

"Oh sweety, you know as well as I do, we weren't allowed to tell you." she said. I sighed. Oh well. I had found out anyway, and now I couldn't be happier.

Mercedes nudged me in the side and I turned my head to face her. She leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Angelica's coming this way, so you better be careful" she said and I pursed my lips and looked over where Devililca Badcliffe was striding over with haughtiness.

She curtised demurley in front of my mom but was looking at her with malice.

"Hello, I just wanted to make your acquaintance. I am Lady Angelica Radcliffe, the rightful fiancee of Julian." she said and latched herself onto him. A surge of jealousy went through me and i wanted to rip that pretty little bow that was tied to her hair right off of it. Even though I wasn't a violent person by habit, I just didn't want her to interfere with _my _future husband.

"Yeah, you _wish_." Mercedes snorted in amusement. Angelica glared at her.

"Um, exuse me?" My mother asked, obviously not understanding what she was saying.

"I just wanted to say that I'm Julian's rightful fiancee, so you might as well pack up and go home, because there isn't going to be a wedding. At least, not Julian and Seraphina's wedding." she said and Julian was finally able to struggle out of her iron grip.

"Angelica, why don't you go away, please, and let the adults finish talking." Mercedes sneered. I had to choke back my laughter. This was why I liked Mercedes so much. She could just say whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Even my mother looked amused. Except then something registered in her head and her smile faltered.

"You said that your last name was _Radcliffe_? As in, daughter of Sir Henry Radcliffe?" she asked and Devilica grinned evily.

"The very same." she smirked.

"Hm. Well isn't that nice. Sera, would you like me to show me to our room?" my mother asked and even _I _was surprised at her abruptness. I didn't question it and just flashed Mercedes a confused look. Devilica was still there, looking like she had just won a big prize in a contest.

I started into the castle with my mom, dad, Julian, Mercedes and Mortimer, until we were stopped once again by Devilica's stupid voice.

"You can ignore me right now all you want, it's okay, but sooner or later, you're going to have to come to terms with everything." she called to my mother.

My mom whipped around with angry eyes. "Why, my child, do you think you have any right to talk to me like that?" she asked, her tone biting. Devilica only smiled wider.

"Because today, the test results came back to reveal who my ancestors are. And guess what? I'm related to King Dracula." she smirked.

_Uh-oh_.


	34. Chapter 34

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 34 -You're My WHAT?!-

Hope u enjoy this part!!

It's in Calin's P.O.V., by the way!

**Calin's Point of View:******

As quickly as I had fallen in love with Sera, I was falling in love with Evangeline. As much as I tried to stop it, it was like I _couldn't_. When I had run away from Julian and Sera, I had promised myself just to lead my existence out alone, without my 'soul mate'. But now...I felt like I _needed_ to be with Evangeline. Not just to save her, but to save myself as well.

I didn't want to, but I kept thinking that she could be my soul mate. But what if she wasn't, and we found out that she wasn't? What would I do then? I couldn't die, apparentley, but I didn't want to live.

Of course, I didn't have to wonder very long.

I was walking by the stairs in her house one morning while she was coming down. She looked beautiful as ever and I could feel myself grow faint whenever she was near. It was stupid and idiotic, but I couldn't stop myself. She was walking slowly, careful as ever, when suddenly, she slipped on her socks.

She started tripping down the stairs and bumped into me, landing us both on the floor with her lips firmly planted on mine.

And that instant I felt a physical tugging, and then we couldn't pull away from each other, even if we had wanted to. I felt my arms wrap around her as all of her memories and her life flashed through my eyes. And I felt myself grow ecstatic, she was my _soul mate_! And she was going to be with me for the rest of my life!

When we were finally able to pull away, I did so with a smile. But she looked completley angry.

"What was _that_?! Why did I see your memories in my head, and why did you not tell me that you're the _PRINCE _of the vampires?!" she screamed, getting off of me. Oops. I had forgotten that one tiny detail, she hated the vampiryc government.

"I'm your uh...soul mate." I told her, struggling to get up.

"YOU'RE MY _WHAT_?!" she screeched.

"Soul mate. Like the lycans. You remember that legend about how vampires came to be? Well it's true. Because my brother Julian has a soul mate and so do I. So yes, I'm the prince of the vampires and yes, you're my soul mate." I explained to her.

"But you _lied _to me!" she shouted and I winced.

"Not exactly. I just didn't tell you everything about me." I responded. Evangeline fumed.

"How do you expect me to be your soul mate if A: you don't tell me everything about yourself and B: everything you are goes against everything that I believe!" she told me.

"I didn't tell you everything about myself because I was afraid you'd like me less if I did! And I...didn't want that." I told her.

"I probably would have liked you less, but I'd get over it!" she exclaimed.

"I didn't know that! Besides, you _just _said that everything I stand for goes against everything you believe in, and even though you don't even know what I stand for because Julian and I are the opposite of our father, how do you know that you would have gotten over the fact that I'm the prince?" I asked.

"Well, if you had explained the fact that you're the opposite of your father, that might have helped." she retorted.

"I didn't think you'd believe me!" I said, exapserated.

"I need time to think about this." she said, walking back up the stairs, only she didn't put enough of her foot on the second step and fell back into me. I caught her around waist instincitivley. I blushed and I could feel her blush against me.

"I just want to let you know...I love you." I told her, swallowing nervously.

"Let me think about this." she whispered, struggling out of my grasp and walking upstairs. This time, she didn't trip back into my arms and I felt very sad. What if she decided that she didn't want to be with me because I had 'lied'? What if she didn't love me anyway? What would I do.

_I'm sorry for not telling you_. I said in my head to her. She didn't respond. I sighed out loud and sat on the couch and turned on the TV.

There was a knock at the door. I didn't bother to tell Evangeline I'd get it, she probably couldn't hear it from her room. I got up and opened the door. Official looking men were standing there.

"Exuse me, but we're looking for Calin Courtier...do you happen to know where he is?" one of them asked. I sighed. This was probably Julian's idea. Oh well. It didn't matter now.

"That would be me." I said and one of them smiled.

"Your brother requests your presence at the palace." he said.

"I'm sure he does." I retorted.

"Are you willing to come along?" the other one asked. I considered this.

"It depends on what the person who is keeping me here thinks. She is in charge of my..._health _and I wouldn't want to leave here without her consent." I told them. What the heck. I'd ask Evangeline if I should go or stay. I wanted more than anything for her to tell me to stay, but if she wanted me to go, then I would leave. I didn't want to hurt her. And truthfully, it would be for the best. I didn't want to intrude on her life...and I didn't want to make it dangerous. Which it would be if she came back to the castle with me. She'd be caught in the war with the lycans and I would have to protect myself and be careful...of course, I was going to have to do that now anyway. Oh well.

I climbed up the stairs to her room quickly and knocked on her door. She didn't answer.

"Evangeline...some men have come from the castle, looking for me. Julian wants me to come back to help him with the war. But if you don't want me to leave, I won't." I said to her through the door.

"I think..." I heard her on the other side. I stood in anticipation. "I think you should go..." she said and everything around me felt as if it were crashing down.

"Okay. Of course. Whatever you say. Just...be careful. Now that you're my soul mate, if you die, I die too." I said.

"Thank you for that pleasant thought. You...be careful as well..." she said.

"Goodbye." I told her.

"Goodbye." she responded.

"If you ever want to see me, or talk to me, or anything, you know where I am." I said.

"Yes." she said through the door. I clenched my teeth and walked down the door and out of her house, for the very last time.


	35. Chapter 35

An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 35 -Keeping Our Humanity-

It was getting close to the wedding, and I was getting pretty anxious. The lycans hadn't done anything to us, which made me pretty convinced that they would do something to us at the wedding. My mom and Julian assured me that security would be extra tight at the wedding, but I was still worried.

And besides that, because Julian was the vampire king, he was also pretty famous in the human world, something I didn't know. Apparentley a few vampire reporters were going to be at our wedding, taking pictures for a famous British tabloid. I thought that was kind of cool.

I took the time before the wedding to talk to my mom a little bit about her being queen and her not telling me any of this before shipping me off to marry Julian.

We decided to take a walk out in the gardens, which were her favorite part of the palace, or so she told me.

"Being queen had it's ups and downs. Obviously it was good because I was able to have the run of the land. But it wasn't so good because of all the responsibility that came with it. Much of the time, I wished I could be a normal human." she told me and I laughed as we walked.

"I wish that sometimes too." I admitted.

"I'm sure you do. A life as a vampire is a hard one. For the obvious reasons of having to hide from humans and also having to deal with the blood thirst. But also for the not so obvious reasons. Many vampires also lose sight of their humanity, which is what sets us apart from lycans." she said to me.

"But J.J. Giraldi seems humane, and he's a lycan." I replied. My mom sighed.

"J.J. is a little different." she said vaguely.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"Yes." she said to me.

"Did you know him when you were queen?" I asked and she sighed again.

"Yes." she told me.

"Is there something you're not telling me? Because it would be really helpful if I knew..." I said, looking at her carefully.

"Back when we were younger and both J.J.'s parents and mine were alive, there was a strange peace between the lycans and the vampires. This was mostly because my parents and his both believed in the legend regarding the origins of the lycans and vampires. They often threw us together, hoping that we would become soul mates...obviously it didn't happen but...we did fall in love." she told me.

"No way!" I said with a sly smile. "Seriously? That's weird!" I said and she smiled back.

"Now granted, it was very long ago and I love your father dearly. After our parents gave up trying to figure out if we were soul mates, because nothing worked, the peace ended and the skirmishes started up again. I loved him for a very long time after we stopped being able to see each other...up until I accidentally bonded souls with your father." she told me.

"Maybe that's why he wouldn't hurt me, even after he found out that Julian and I weren't soul mates. Because he claimed the only reason he kept me alive was because he wanted to find out if I was soul mates with his son." I mused as we walked.

"Probably, but I'm sure he took a liking to you. J.J. really only dislikes people who wrong him directly. Other than that, he has always been a very open individual, fighting to keep his humanity even though he's primarily an animal." my mother told me.

"Yeah. It must be so much harder for the lycans." I said.

"The Umbrias, yes. The Illuminatas have it a little easier. But it's just as easy to forget that humanity and succumb to the monster inside. Many vampires have gone bad that way. Vampires might be considered 'monsters', but if we let our humanity slip away, we're not good at anything besides hunting. Fighting, planning, reasoning, it's all gone. And that is not good in the vampire world." she said.

"I never knew vampires were so civilized. Will it be hard for me to keep my humanity?" I asked.

"No, half-vampires have it much easier. Most vampires envy half-vampires. So you are lucky."

"Yeah, lucky." I laughed as we came back to the palace. I noticed a blonde girl standing in front of the palace, looking very lost. We came up to her.

"Are you all right?" my mother asked. The girl looked at us and opened her mouth, revealing fangs. She was a vampire...but she was mute?

"Uh- yes." she said finally. So she wasn't mute. Just afraid?

"Can we help you with anything?" I asked, trying to sound like the queen I was going to become soon.

"I'm looking for Calin, but if he's not here or if he's not taking visitors or something, it's okay, I'll leave." she said and I finally realized who she must be.

"Are you _Evangeline_?" I asked, a grin coming to my face. The girl blushed.

"Yes..." she said. I felt my heart soar as I took the girls' hand and led her into the palace.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who _are _you?" Evangeline asked and I grinned at her.

"Just the future queen. I'm Sera!" I quipped, feeling so happy. Calin's soul mate had come back! She really _did _love him!

And by good luck, Calin was coming down the stairs, reading a book. I felt Evangeline shake out of my grasp as she looked up at Calin. I watched her face as it turned from pain to fear to happiness back to pain and fear. I smiled tentativley as Calin looked up and finally noticed her. Their eyes caught and I could only guess that they were talking in their head because after a few moments, Calin came down the stairs and Evangeline went up them and they met and kissed softly.

_Evangeline came back_. I said to my own soul mate in my head.

_Calin's soul mate?_ asked Julian in my head.

_Yeah. _I spoke softly.

I heard Julian's footsteps as he entered the foyer where Calin and Evangeline were still kissing. I smiled at my own soul mate as he smiled at me and then Calin. Calin and Evangeline finally broke away and Calin beamed at us, the realest smile I had ever seen on his face.

"Sera, Julian, I want you to meet-" he started but we finished with laughter.

"We _know _who she is!" I said. "I'm the one who brought her in, remember?" I asked. Calin blushed, as did Evangeline. I was sure she probably felt akward. Julian came up and offered his hand to Evangeline.

"My name is Julian Courtier, I'm Calin's brother and the King of the Vampires. And I would like you to know that I am absolutley nothing like your father and what he did to your parents was completley unlawful and horrible." Julian said. Evangeline turned pink as she shook Julian's hand.

"Well, now that you're here, I'm hoping you're planning on staying." Calin said aloud to Evangeline, probably so Julian and I wouldn't feel left out. She smiled.

"Yes, of course." she told us. Lilith came down the stairs, obviously hearing everything, wearing a huge smile.

"Great! Because once Julian and Sera are married, I can start planning _your _wedding!" she exclaimed and Evangeline and Calin blushed furiously while Julian and I cracked up into laughter.

Of course, we were as far as we could be from a happily ever after...


	36. Chapter 36

**An Arranged Marriage to the Vampire King?! You've Got To Be Kidding Me...[Chapter 36 -The Night Before-**

Enjoy this, there aren't that many more parts to go in this story!!

There was a huge rush the final few days before the wedding. I couldn't believe that it actually was going to happen. Only three months ago I had been hating this entire idea, I had been so against it. Now I didn't even know why I had been against it in the first place.

If someone had told me six months ago that I would be getting married in six months, I would have been laughing in their face. But here I was, standing in front of my mirror, doing the final fitting of my wedding dress. It was a really beautiful, simple yet elegant design, with a long train. It was strapless with beads adorned on it in different patterns and swirls. I absolutley loved it.

"My little girl is all grown up." my mom cooed as she watched my dress being fitted. I smiled a little.

"Sorta." I said nervously. Lilith was there too, she was looking at me with just as much pride in her eyes as my mom was. I blushed. "Jeez, you guys are making me nervous."

"Aw, I'm sorry. I'll go find your father if you'd like." my mom said and I nodded in thanks.

"I guess I'll go too." Lilith said and I smiled. I just kind of wanted to be alone right now. The woman that was doing the final fitting of my gown exused herself and walked off after Lilith, no doubt to talk more about the dress or some such thing.

I looked at myself in the mirror. There was no denying it, I looked really good in this dress. And everything was perfect. But there was still something nagging at me, something that was wrong. It wasn't Julian, he was my soul mate and I loved him, everything about him. It wasn't the wedding itself, it was perfect. It wasn't my parents, having them here was great. It wasn't even Angelica, since my mom had laughed in her face, she had backed down and hadn't been much of an issue.

It was...well, stupid to even think about this, but it was the lycanthropes. I was feeling...worried. I shouldn't have been, really I shouldn't. It wasn't like they could do anything.

Funny how a little while ago, I was just another normal person who didn't think vampires and lycanthropes existed. I almost laughed out loud as I recalled the graceful way I had found out that Julian was a vampire and that he was the king of the vampires. I had fainted, how cool of me.

But...no. I never was normal, honestly. I had always been a half vampire, I had just never known it. But now there was no denying it. I smiled and looked at my sharp fangs. They weren't scary anymore, I thought they were kind of cool. True, I still didn't like the idea of hunting and I really didn't plan on doing it in the future, but I felt like before I met Julian and Lilith and everyone else, I had been completley ignrorant of what my life was all about.

Before all this, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was just planning on sleeping in late everyday and living at home for awhile...maybe get a job. Now I was going to rule an entire race. Could I do it?

I really had no idea. But I was going to have to try. Because if I didn't at least try, I would be failing everyone around me. Besides, I had faith in myself. And with Julian by my side, I was sure I could do it.

I smiled at myself in the mirror, doing my best to just put out the idea of the lycanthropes out of my head. Tomorrow, I was getting married. It was going to be the happiest day of my life. I stepped out of my gown and put it on the chair for when the lady came back to make the final touches. I pulled on my sweatpants and sweatshirt and wandered back into my room.

I lay down on my bed and a thought hit me. Tomorrow night, I probably wouldn't be sleeping here. I sat up and realized something I hadn't noticed before. There wasn't anything besides my pajamas in this room. I got off my bed and wandered down the hall to Julian's room.

I knocked on the door and he opened it with a smile.

"Good Evening." he said to me pleasantley.

"Hi. Um...I was just wondering, do you know where my stuff is?" I asked, trying to peek around him into his room. Julian blushed and opened the door. I stepped inside and took a look around his room. It was even larger than mine, with a huge, super comfortable looking bed. He went over and opened a door.

"I sort of took the liberty of putting your things into this walk-in closet. I really hope you don't mind. Seeing as you will be sleeping here from tomorrow night on." he told me and I nodded.

"I was actually just thinking about that before I noticed my stuff was gone. And I just got my last fitting for my dress done." I told him.

"It's actually happening. Funny, hm? Three months ago we were trying to find ways to figure out how to stop the wedding, and now we're both looking forward to it." he said to me and I smiled.

"I was just thinking about that also." I replied.

"You know, we really don't have to do this right now." he told me with a smirk.

"Do what?" I questioned.

_Talk. You know, with our voices._ he said to me in my head. I smiled.

"But I kind of _like _talking to you." I replied and he laughed.

"You are the strangest vampire I know." he said after a few moments and I pouted.

"Jeez, thanks." I told him.

"Oh, I have a present for you." he said to me, changing the subject abruptly.

"Yeah?" I asked and he turned away from me and went to the sidetable by his bed. He pulled out a drawer and picked up something from inside it and put it behind his back.

"I know that this was an arranged marriage to make sure that we would get together, but somehow, I think that if it hadn't been arranged, a wedding between us would have happened anyway. So I think it's just as well that I do this for you..." he explained, trailing off as he got down on one knee. I blushed, feeling my heart pound in my chest. Julian presented me with a black velvet box and he opened it, revealing a beautiful diamond wedding ring.

"It was my mothers." he told me simply and my mouth fell open as I picked it up and slipped it on my finger.

"I don't know what to say...thank you..." I told him and he smiled as he stood up.

"I'm glad you like it." he said softly.

"_Like _it? I love it!" I said, still admiring it. Julian smiled proudly and leaned down to kiss me. I smiled in the kiss and put my arms around him. I was so excited about tomorrow.

Tomorrow was _our _day, nothing could mess it up, nothing could destroy its perfection.

Yeah, _right_.


	37. If you read this story, PLEASE read!

Hey guys… I'm sorry, but this story kind of died… I have no more inspiration left to continue it at all,

and since this started out of random anyway because I was bored one day,

and as you see I haven't updated in a year.

This is my final update,

and I don't want hate mail like for example:**"you suck!" "go fall into a freeway" "this is the worst thing ever" "why did u write it if not finishing it?"** (if u didn't like it, then why read it in the first place?)

from you guys just because I didn't finish the story.

I have more things to do you know. I don't have time to think of ideas for this story.

Again my apologies, but you all have imaginations.

YOU

think of how the story should end.

;]

~SARU.

**P.S.**

Starfish…**LOVES YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!**


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